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Asia has turned the corner in addressing IP deficiencies. But problems remain – from the political wranglings in Indonesia to the booming Korean market. Tabitha Parker investigates

On May 10 2000, there entered into force a new Act No 116/2000, amending some IP laws, including the Patents Act No 527/1990. The only exception concerns Section 3 of the Patents Act, regulating European patent applications and the European patent. This Section will enter into force on July 1 2002, ie on the day of the supposed accession of the Czech Republic to the EPC. The most important part of the said amendments concerns the grant of supplementary protection certificates for medicinal products and plant protection products. Commercial exploitation of inventions protecting such products is shortened by the registration proceeding carried out by the respective state authorities before such products can be put on the market. In justified cases, supplemental protection certificates extend the life of protection by the time of registration proceeding. Reasons for the introduction of supplementary protection certificates are just the same as those which led the European Union to adopt Regulations of the Council No 1768/92 and 1610/96 ie to keep up the level of research, and to safeguard a competition ability and free circulation of medicinal products and plant protection products.

A series of innovative yet controversial television commercials in New Zealand promoting Roche's weight management product XENICAL have won the 2000 prestigious Television New Zealand/Marketing Magazine Supreme Award.

CHINA: Intcera High Tech Group is adding a new plant in mainland China to expand its manufacture of fibre-optics components. CHINA: The Ministry of Information Industry and National Copyright Administration prepared a draft amendment to the Regulations for the Protection of Computer Software. Changes include an extension of the period of protection for software from 25 years to 50 years. EUROPE: From January 1 2001, new Block Exemptions and Guidelines, which affect trade between the member states of the European Union, became effective. The aim of the Guidelines is to provide a simplified framework for assessing whether a horizontal agreement comes within the Article 81 (1) prohibition and, if it does, whether it is exempt from it. UK: Protocol Solutions, which specialized in NT and desktop systems, has been forced into receivership following legal action taken by the police over counterfeit software. US: Brobeck Phleger & Harrison raised its first-year associate pay by $10,000 to $135,000. A first-year associate can now expect to receive $170,000. US: In the first case of its kind, federal prosecutors in Los Angeles have claimed a website selling counterfeit software on the internet as part of a criminal case. Maria Yolanda and Sola Lirola, who made $900,000 in profit, sold software billed as retail products from companies such as Adobe and Microsoft.

John P Fry and Christopher B Roblyer examine how to defend against charges of wilful infringement and the risk of waiving the attorney-client privilege in US patent and trade mark disputes

In the second of three articles on IP value issues, Tony Samuel and Graeme Berry query why organizations do not insure their most valuable asset, intellectual property.

In preparation for joining the WTO, China has amended its patent law. Jiwen Chen says the changes will enhance protection and simplify application procedures and enforcement

As the UDRP approaches its first birthday, Jane Mutimear asks: should we wish it many happy returns?

The Andean Community (Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia) has now issued the new Decision 486 (the Decision), with 280 articles, that replaces Decision 344, covering a Common Andean Industrial Property Code. The Decision does not amend the prior legislation, but puts out an encyclopedic and repetitive text of which the salient chapters are one on integrated circuits and another on unfair competition. We shall here focus en the latter.

In Euromarket Designs Inc v Peters & anr (unreported: 27/07/2000), the claimant ran the US "Crate & Barrel" stores selling household goods and furniture, and also owned UK and Community-wide trade marks. The first defendant owned a company (the second defendant) which had a shop in Ireland called "Crate & Barrel". The defendants had a website to sell their products and advertised in Homes & Gardens magazine which has a UK and Republic of Ireland based circulation. The claimant sought summary judgment in the UK alleging infringement of its UK trade mark. The defendants intended to sell only to and in the Irish market and therefore argued that it was not using the trade mark "in the course of trade" in the UK.