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In recent years, the German Utility Model Act has undergone several important changes which, among other things, have made utility model protection available for essentially the same subject matter (except methods) as for patent protection, and extended the maximum period of protection to 10 years. However, a utility model will still be registered without examination as to the novelty and non-obviousness of its subject matter. Registration will be effected within six to eight weeks after completion of the filing procedure.

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.

Following its judgment in the Hermes case, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) is again being requested to pass judgment on the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). In the Hermes case (case C-63/96), the ECJ had to judge whether the term provisional measures, as used in Article 50, Paragraph 6 of the TRIPS Agreement, also applies to Dutch interim injunction proceedings. Article 50, Paragraph 6 stipulates that a provisional measure must be followed by proceedings leading to a decision on the merits of the case, and the Dutch court had asked the European Court for a ruling as to whether Dutch interim injunction proceedings (kort geding) could be regarded as a provisional measure. The European Court affirmed that such was the case.

An intellectual property owner faces difficulties when trying to recover full damage compensation from an infringer in Korea due to three main reasons:

In the rapidly developing software market questions often arise regarding proper protection of program names. Of course, program names can be registered as trade marks. On the other hand, many software developers are not aware of the fact that program names may enjoy protection in Germany as titles of works. Titles of works are defined as designations of printed publications, cinematographic works, musical and dramatic works, or other comparable works which, according to German case law, include computer programs.

Recently, as part of the national drive towards becoming a regional IT and e-learning hub, a research and education centre at the National University of Singapore known as the Institute of Systems Science (ISS) launched what it claims to be the world´ s first virtual institute. The ISS took about one and a half years to develop the necessary software. It is intended that the virtual institute will serve, among other things, to re-train graduates for the growing infocomm industry. Plans are also being made to offer courses to local students and to provide courses in languages other than English for students in other countries in the region.

To strengthen IP rights enforcement in Singapore, new border enforcement measures were introduced in the Copyright Act and the recent Trade Marks Act 1998 to prevent infringing goods from entering Singapore. The border enforcement measures under the Trade Marks Act 1998 in particular took effect on January 15 1999 and enable a trade mark owner suspicious of any incoming shipment of infringing goods to enlist the assistance of the Customs and Excise Department. Subject to certain safeguards, the Department may seize these goods when they enter Singapore.

The new Trade Mark Law which came into force on July 23 1998 includes the provision to introduce oppositions within three months from the date of a trade mark´ s publication in the Official Bulletin.

The 30 countries profiled in MIP’s Emerging Markets Survey will be among the big markets of tomorrow. Which makes it vital to know where to find the top firms. On the following pages, we reveal the results of our fourth annual survey, and analyze the latest trends

One of the most common questions asked by foreign clients is: "What is an Amparo suit?" Often the answer from most Mexican lawyers to avoid further explanation is: an appeal.