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Trade marks which, either intrinsically, or because they are popular on the market, have a clear distinctiveness, enjoy a broader degree of protection than trade marks which are less distinctive. This criterion emerged from the ruling handed down by the ECJ on November 11 1997 in the Puma v Sabel case. The question of when a trade mark is well-known has remained unanswered for some time. However, although this question has a bearing on the application of Article 5, Paragraph 2 of the Trade Mark Directive and of Section 13A, Subsection 1 under c of the Uniform Benelux Trade Marks Act which stipulates that the owner of a well-known trade mark can oppose the use thereof or of a similar sign for dissimilar goods or services if such use can result in an unfair advantage being derived from the trade mark or the distinctiveness or reputation of the trade mark being impaired.

UK & Netherlands: European law firm Eversheds and leading Netherlands practice Boekel De Nerée merged on January 1 2000. The new firm combines Boekel De Nerée's 250 staff and Eversheds' 3,300 staff.

Brazilian reform provokes alarm

US: A federal judge in San Francisco ruled December 7 that a patent for DNA analysis owned by Swiss biotechnology company Hoffman-La Roche was obtained by deliberately misleading the USPTO and is invalid. US District Judge Vaughn Walker upheld a challenge by Promega which argued that scientists got the patent in 1990 through false claims. Those scientists worked for Cetus, which sold rights to the patent to Hoffman La Roche in 1991. The patented substance is called Taq DNA Polymerase. Cetus inventors had convinced the patent office that they had a substance better than those developed in the 1980s. Hoffman-La Roche is appealing, and contends that the ruling invalidates the patent for only one form of Taq, and not for the more common and lucrative recombinant Taq.

José Carlos Erdozain of Gomez-Acebo & Pombo in Madrid offers a Spanish perspective on how the law is coping with the Internet revolution

Drew & Napier look at how effective a weapon trade mark law is for doing battle in cyberspace

Alexander Vogele, Partner, Andreas Grohn and Michael Pinkus, Attorney at KPMG Frankfurt look at e-commerce and permanent establishments, and the economic connection between them.

Trade mark dilution is an ever-expanding concept in the US.

Innovation has been neglected ever since perestroika started in Russia in 1985. The blow had such an effect that innovation activities have not regained their former strength to this day. It is true that basic things have been done. After the emergence of private enterprise, the Law on Inventions was adopted in 1991 in the USSR and after its collapse, the then Russian law makers were surprisingly quick to pass a Patent Law in 1992.

Most EU countries have the experimental use exemption corresponding to Article 27(b) CPC in their patent acts. It states that: "The right conferred by the Community patent does not cover acts done for experimental purposes relating to the subject matter of the patented invention.