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By means of Act 50/1998, dated December 30, on Tax, Administrative and Social Measures, which develops and executes General State Budgets for 1999, the Spanish Government has amended both Act 11/1986, dated March 20, on patents and utility models and Act 32/1988, dated November 10, which deals with trade marks. The object of these amendments is, first of all, to establish time limits for procedures filed before the Spanish Trade Marks and Patents Office. Secondly, a new Article 87 is added to Act 32/1988, on trade marks. This article establishes the national rules concerning the transformation in a national trade mark of an international trade mark registered in Spain by virtue of the Madrid Protocol, and which has been cancelled by virtue of Article 6.4 of the Protocol.

Several changes to the German Patent Law became effective on November 1 1998. Among the minor changes is a modification of the name of the patent office which now is Deutsches Patent und Markenamt, to emphasize the increasingly important role of trade mark matters. There are also significant modifications of more relevance to applicants, and these will be briefly commented on below, as far as they relate to filing procedures.

Patent Ordinance

Estonian customs authorities have started an active campaign against pirated and counterfeited goods. Within the last few months, different counterfeited goods bearing such famous trade marks as NIKE, ADIDAS, SALAMANDER and WRANGLER have been seized by customs. Such counterfeited goods are usually of extremely poor quality.

Illegal exemptions to music royalty collection in the US are costing European performers $20 million dollars a year.

When the Trade Marks Act came into force in October 1994, the scope of what constituted a registrable trade mark was broadened.

Joel Smith, Andrea Montanari and Simona Cazzaniga provide an update on the complex Italian regime for protecting industrial designs, in the light of new legislation

On January 28 1999, the Intellectual Property Laws Amendment Act 1998 became law in Australia, introducing provisions for the extension of the term of patents relating to pharmaceutical substances.

The need for a clear problem and solution was demonstrated in a recent decision by Stockholm´ s Tingsrätt (The Stockholm City Court), the first instance for all patent litigation in Sweden. The problem/solution approach is one of the basic principles in European patent practice. In case No. T7-19-97 the validity of European patent 0138152 was tried by the City Court.

On July 23 1998 the Trade Mark Law No. 84/1998 came into force. Section 88 of this Law provides that if a trade mark is infringed, the owner may ask, by way of interlocutory injunction, for the immediate cessation of any infringement until the main trial case is settled and the decision is final.