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As the internet has expanded in recent years, it has become more and more important due to the fact that it has revolutionized the communications and now it is a significant marketing tool for large and small businesses.

Johannes Ahme A new cost law is under preparation which, besides introducing the conversion to the euro, integrates the regulations regarding all costs and fees of the German Patent and Trade Mark Office and the Federal Patent Court into a single cost act. Thus, essentially all the rules regarding payment of fees are removed from the patent act, trade mark act, utility model act, design model act etc and integrated into a single common cost act. The basic rule of this new cost act is that fees for an application, a request, an opposition, or an appeal become due at the moment they are filed. The Patent Office or Federal Patent Court will start to work on the particular application, request etc only once the fees have been paid. If the fees are not paid within three months after becoming due, the application, request etc is deemed to be withdrawn. The particular fees and their amounts are listed in an attachment to the cost act.

Heinz Bardehle, senior partner of German firm Bardehle Pagenberg Dost Altenburg Geissler Isenbruck was awarded the Bundersverdienstkreuz (Great Cross of Merit of the German Federal Republic) by Minister of Justice, Herta Dåubler-Gmelin, on October 24.

Although Taiwan is not yet a WTO member, the government is determined to ensure that its patent legislation complies with TRIPs. Daisy Wang outlines the plans to achieve this aim

While the Czech Republic, Hungary and Russia have all strengthened their IP laws, copyright and trade marks owners have major concerns about the lack of enforcement, reports James Nurton

More than half a million .info registrations were made within the first 90 days of the new top level domain name's operation. By comparison, it took the global .com domain more than five years to reach the same level, according to a University of California Berkeley study quoted by the .info registry Afilias.

There is tension across Europe on the question of constructing patent claims. Gerard P Cronin, of Arnander Irvine & Zietman, examines how the English courts have dealt with the question

Patent owners can claim monetary damages when their rights are infringed in Japan. Daisuke Tatsuno of Tokyo Aoyama Aoki Law Office/Baker & McKenzie in Tokyo, examines the options available

José I De Santiago, of Olivares & Cia in Mexico City, explains how to challenge adverse patent and trade mark office decisions in Mexico

Vladimir Anohin and Victoria Streltsova of Agency Tria Robit in Riga analyze the development of IP enforcement in Latvia, and examine some cases where owners of famous marks have enforced their rights