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In the 10 years since the rebirth of democracy, Romania has made major progress. But counterfeiting of IP rights has escalated. Lucien Enescu and Ian Mocanu of Rominvent in Bucharest explain how the problem has arisen and what measures are being taken to defeat it

Romania has a new law governing the protection of plant varieties. Lucian Enescu and Cristina Popa of Rominvent in Bucharest explain how to obtain protection

Oscar M Becerril, of Becerril, Coca & Becerril, SC in Mexico City, reviews the various options available for protecting container designs in Mexico

There are an estimated 190 core biotech and 460 biotech-related companies operating in Australia Approximately 35 core biotech companies and 25 biotech-related companies are publicly listed The industry as a whole has raised about A$900 million since the previous industry report in 1999, five times more than estimated in 1998-1999 Revenues generated by core biotech companies over the past 12 months are estimated at almost A$1 billion. Human health, equipment and services, and agriculture are the sectors with the most number of products under development. In 2001 there is an estimated A$300 million of ongoing publicly funded research in biotechnology Victoria has the greatest number of core biotechnology companies (38%) New South Wales has the highest number of biotech-related companies (40%) R&D investment by Australian biotech companies in 1999-2000 was approximately A$150 million. Approximately half the biotech companies operate in the human health sector, including diagnostics and therapeutics Genomics and bio-informatics companies has more than doubled since 1999 Australia's patent system gives it a competitive advantage in attracting foreign companies to invest in the country's biotechnology industry, according to a recently released report on the growth of the sector.

An Australian attorney has patented the wheel in an attempt to draw attention to problems with the country's recently introduced innovation patent. Since May this year, the innovation patent has been available for inventions with a lower inventive threshold than standard patents. It is defined as a development that makes a substantial contribution to the working of the invention compared with the prior art.

Patent applications for business methods have dramatically increased in recent years. But, say Robert Cooper and Frances Sun, applying to patent business methods in Australia has been risky as there was a dearth of case law – until now

András Mák of SBG&K in Budapest, examines the latest changes to patent protection in Hungary and reveals how the Hungarian Patent Office is dealing with new technologies

The year 2000 saw some important amendments to Czech IP protection. Zdenka Prádná of Patentservis Praha, Ltd in Prague, reveals the most important changes

Oscar M Becerril, of Becerril, Coca & Becerril, SC in Mexico City, examines the protection of confidential data in registration files, pharmaceutical generics and look-alikes in Mexico

Spain is a step closer to bringing its trade mark system into line with the rest of the EU after the Spanish House of Representatives approved the draft Spanish Trade Marks Act. The legislation will now be debated by the Senate for a final vote, with July 31 mooted for its implementation. Its key objectives include implementing the Madrid Protocol and the EU Harmonization Directive, TRIPs compliance, and introducing amendments that bring Spain closer to harmonization with the Community Trade Mark.