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Politicians and regulators are responding to competition in the pharmaceutical industry by threatening patent rights. The consequence will be all out war between branded companies and generics. Tabitha Parker reports from the front line

At the conclusion of the Trilateral Technical Meeting Study, held in Tokyo in June, the Trilateral Offices ? the JPO, USPTO and EPO ? issued a Report on a Comparative Study Carried Out under Trilateral Project B3b with a "Consensus Summary ? Confirmed Current Practices on Business Method Related Inventions". The consensus on computer implemented business methods is:

Julia Phillpot Anti-piracy manager Microsoft UK

In a recent case, the English Court of Appeal looked again at the issue of the purposive construction of a patent (Wheatley & Anor v Drillsafe Ltd & Anors). Wheatley´ s patent claimed a centre-less hole cutter, which is a hole cutter with no central drill for forming a pilot hole. This is especially suitable for forming threaded holes in, for example, underground petrol tanks without the need to open the tanks. The defendants´ drill had a semi-penetrating retractable probe within the cutting tool to prevent the cutter from wandering. The defendants argued that this probe meant that the drill was a variant which fell outside the claims of the patent.

On July 28 2000, the Singapore Court of Appeal delivered its first patent infringement judgment under the new Singapore Patents Act, dismissing an appeal by Merck & Co Inc (Merck) to inter alia reinstate some of the product claims in its patent for a purer form of a known substance, Lovastatin (Merck & Co Inc v Pharmaforte Singapore Pte Ltd (Civil Appeal No 9 of 2000)). The Lovastatin covered by Merck´ s patent contained less than 0.2% dimeric impurity.

Any lawyer, in any part of the world might find that a common question asked by clients is how to recovery damages in a litigation case.

So far the German practice as to patentability of computer program-related inventions has been rather strict, in particular with regard to the requirement of a technical character which was denied for most program-related inventions unless there was an interaction between the programmed method or computer with an external technical means. By two recent decisions, however, the Federal Supreme Court considerably extended the area in which program-related inventions will be considered as patentable technical inventions.

The explosive growth in the internet has forced businesses to find new ways of valuing all their assets, not least their brands. Weston Anson explains the main approaches that are emerging for internet brand valuation

The Netherlands "cross-border" judgments in European patent proceedings are famous. In the past a European patent owner could obtain a pan-European cross-border injunction from the Netherlands judges.

As global protection becomes more desirable and more expensive, the new Patent Law Treaty promises to make the process less painful. But progress towards harmonization is slow and pain-staking. Tabitha Parker reports