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Hiroshi Sheraton, McDermott, Will & Emery, London

After much debate and a long gestation period, the EU Council of Ministers finally adopted on April 9 the Directive on the harmonisation of certain aspects of copyright and related rights in the information society. At the time of writing, the Directive had not been published in the Official Journal, but this is likely to take place within a few weeks of April 9. Following publication, member states must implement the Directive in national law within 18 months. The intention was that the Copyright Directive should be implemented within a timescale similar to that for the implementation of the E-Commerce Directive, which must be implemented by member states by no later than January 17 2002. The Copyright Directive will have to be implemented by member states by about a year later than that. The Copyright Directive seeks to achieve a number of objectives. These include a degree of harmonization of copyright and related rights laws throughout the Community. The Directive also seeks to introduce protections for technical measures and rights-management information.

Franchisors who try to stop franchisees from selling outside their allocated territories in the EU may fall foul of competition legislation. Mark Abell analyzes how EU law is developing to cope with the internet

The biotech industry is growing rapidly but facing many new challenges, from revised PTO guidelines to the possibilities of licensing and patent pooling. Tabitha Parker asks senior in-house counsel how they are coping with change

It is an established principle applied by the European and German patent authorities that, under certain circumstances, functional features may be used for the characterization of subject matter in patent claims (see eg EPO in T 68/85; German Federal Supreme Court in "Trioxan"). Functional features have always been essential for obtaining meaningful protection for biotechnological inventions. Recently, an increasing trend towards a more general use of this type of feature for obtaining broad patent protection can be observed, specifically where patent protection for pharmaceutical compounds and medical uses is sought. Applicants should, however, be aware of the requirements to be met for the successful use of functional features in patent claims.

CANADA: Percy Schmeiser, a 70-year old farmer, lost a patent infringement suit against Monsanto Canada. Monsanto claimed Schmeiser infringed the GM Canola patent by growing and selling crops from seeds blown into his garden. UK: A British court ruled in favour of Amgen in its patent infringement suit against Roche Holding and Transkaryotic Therapies (TKT). Roche and TKT were held to infringe the Epogen patents in the UK. US: Fruit of the Loom is accusing competitor Gildan Activewear of stealing trade secrets. Fruit of the Loom alleges that former manager Elizabeth Walton passed critical documents to her ex-employer David Cherry. US: Jupiter Media Metrix reached a settlement in its patent infringement suit forcing PC Data out of the business of tracking internet usage. Jupiter also filed suits against two other competitors, NetValue and NetRatings, for patent infringement. Jupiter was represented by Daniel R Harris of Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison. US: Monsanto and Aventis Crop Science settled two lawsuits against each other and agreed to avoid patent roadblocks to the development of genetically improved cotton varieties. Part of the settlement includes cross-licensing under existing cotton transformation patents. US: Pfizer filed a trade mark suit against Lara Williams for using the name Niagara for a fizzy drink. Pfizer contends Niagara is being promoted as Viagra for women. US: Pharmacia filed a trade mark suit against Alcon Laboratories for selling a competing drug with a similar name. Pharmacia allege their drug Xalatan has been harmed by Alcon naming its glaucoma drug Travatan. US: PrimeTime 24 Joint Venture lost its Supreme Court appeal against the National Football League to transmit NFL games to customers in Canada. PrimeTime argued that federal copyright law did not apply outside the US, but the Court held the company's actions violated NFL's copyright. US: Savin Corporation won its preliminary injunction against Main Street Copier & Fax Repair, who operated websites under domain names, incorporating trade names owned by Savin. Savin was represented by David A Einhorn, Andrea Pincus and James M Andriola of Anderson Kill & Olick. US: SunTrust Bank won its suit against Alice Randall for copyright infringement, over her book The Wind Done Gone. SunTrust bank accused Randall of infringing the copyright of the classic novel Gone with the Wind. US: Twelve major Hollywood studios won their case against RecordTV.com, which must pay the studios $50,000 (£35,714) in legal costs. Robert Schwartz of O'Melveny & Myers in Los Angeles represented the studios.

Three years after the European Database Directive came into force, protection is being tested in the courts. Georgie Taylor examines the lessons from recent cases

Fittingly, I am writing this column on April 26 ? the first World Intellectual Property Day. Today, which will become an annual celebration, is the date when the Convention establishing WIPO entered into force in 1970.

Schering-Plough and two generic manufacturers have been charged by the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) with conspiring to keep a generic version of the drug K-Dur 20 off the market. The FTC charged Schering with paying Upsher-Smith Labs and ESI Lederle to keep the drug off the market in an effort to maintain a monopoly on its manufacture, which is costing consumers $100 million per year.

One of the world's most valuable domain names has just got more expensive ? $65 million more. On April 3, a Californian court awarded $65 million to Gary Kremen, who originally registered the sex.com domain name in 1994.