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In an unexpected turnaround, on December 26 2000, the Clinton administration killed a proposal to allow imports of low-priced prescription drugs into the United States. Congress abandoned the controversial plan on the grounds that it would be unsafe and would not achieve its aim of providing the public with cheap drugs. Describing the proposal as severely flawed, Donna E Shalala , secretary of health and human services, echoed the concerns of pharma companies who believed that without sufficient funding and strict regulations, the plan would have had a devastating effect on public safety.

The patent alternative

Membership of the European Union came one year closer for many Eastern European countries last year, but as governments rush through necessary legislation, consumers and companies are being left behind. Tabitha Parker reports

The year 2000 saw important progress regarding both the Community Patent and the European Patent Convention. Neil Jenkins reviews the developments and looks forward to further changes

In one of the most eagerly-awaited patent trials in recent years, Amgen has successfully defended three out of the five patents protecting its best-selling drug Epogen. In a 245-page ruling, Judge William G Young of the US District Court in Boston ruled that Transkaryotic Therapies (TKT) infringed the patents in its experimental drug Dynepo. But he ruled that two further patents on Epogen were not infringed. Dynepo is at present in phase III clinical trials. TKT´ s shares fell over 50% following the decision, while Amgen´ s share price shot up 10%.

For copyright owners, news from Hank Barry, Napster´ s CEO, that there are more than 200 million multimedia PCs worldwide with the capacity to copy an MP3 file, and that Napster´ s software has been downloaded and installed 57 million times, will make grim reading. Except that is for copyright owners in France. French authorities are planning to put levies on the sales of computers and digital recording devices as a means of compensating musicians and film-makers against pirate copying. The taxes on recordable CDs, DVDs and mini-discs went into effect on January 22. A 420-minute recordable DVD faces a Ffr57.7 ($9) levy, most of which will go directly to the artists and producers.

Israel is a high-tech oasis in the Middle East, and home to a burgeoning number of biotech, software and internet companies. Its transformation into this position provides a model for the neighbouring states, reports James Nurton

Owen Dean analyzes the South African law on parallel imports for trade mark and copyright-protected goods in the light of divergent court rulings

As global trade increases, technology transfer will play a more important role. Walt Bratic and Sanford Warren provide a guide to putting deals together

In the first case over a .jp domain name, the Toyama District Court has ordered a website to be shut down for infringing a famous name. John A Tessensohn examines the decision