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Chipie wins global victory

In today's fast-moving markets, successful new products and services are the key to success

After several aborted attempts at legislation and a WTO hearing last year, India is now rushing through laws to overhaul its IP protection and comply with TRIPs.

As an outgrowth of the rule of Markman v Westview Instruments, Inc, 517 US 380 (1996) in which the US Supreme Court unanimously affirmed an en banc majority ruling of the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit that patent claim construction is an issue of law for the court to determine, the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, on November 8 1999 in TMPatents LP v International Business Machines Corp (53 USPQ 2d 1093, 1096-1104) ruled that a patentee whose patent claims were construed by a court in an earlier litigation is collaterally estopped to challenge that construction in a later suit involving the same patent. The ruling is one of first impression and has not yet been addressed by the Federal Circuit itself.

The recent decision in Kimberley-Clark v Proctor & Gamble (Court of Appeal, November 24 1999) clarifies that the UK Court retains discretion to refuse patent amendment applications.

The variety patent is granted according to the Romanian law if the following criteria are met by the new plant variety: novelty, distinctiveness, homogeneity and stability.

There is no recent decision of the German Federal Patent or Supreme Court dealing with the patentability of plants or animals. However, issuance of the EC Directive on Biotechnological Inventions on July 6 1998 and the decision G1/98 by the Enlarged Board of Appeal of the European Patent Office (EPO) on December 20 1999, will influence the interpretation of the provisions on the patentability of plants and animals.

In a major victory for a foreign patent owner, Pfizer has stopped a local company infringing its patent for fluconazole.

Last year we witnessed celebrations of significant anniversaries connected with patent offices and IP rights in Germany and Austria. Meanwhile, the Czech Patent Office quietly marked the 80th anniversary of its foundation in 1919.

Rouse in new venture