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MIP's annual survey of the largest IP practices in the US, Europe and Asia reveals that some firms have grown significantly over the past year, while others have suffered a notable drop in staff numbers

EU: The European Commission issued a call for tenders to conduct a study that will provide a picture of the effects of patents on the economy and strategies to develop and implement suitable patent policies. EU: Agriculture commissioner Franz Fischler announced the addition of seven names to the list of protected designations of origin and protected geographical indications in the EU. The names are French Valençay cheese, Scottish Farmed Salmon, Ternera de Extremedura (veal from Spain), and four names for a Spanish cooking oil: Aceite de Mallorca, Aceite mallorquín, Oli de Mallorca and Oli mallorquí. France: Record labels and internet service providers, including Free, Noos, Tiscali France and Wanadoo, signed a government-backed charter to crack down on illegal music downloading sites by attracting more consumers to a wider range of legally available songs on the internet. UK: The UK government launched a national IP strategy aimed at curbing piracy in the country. It will involve the Patent Office, police, trading standards, Customs and brand owners. UK: A trade mark dispute over the colour orange erupted between easygroup and mobile phone company Orange after easygroup announced the planned December launch of a new mobile phone service, easyMobile, which will use the company's orange logo colour. A settlement is expected. UK: Enforcement officers arrested 57 people in a nationwide piracy crackdown, seizing fake goods worth more than £500 million. UK: In a government-backed report released on July 29, the Patent Office called for the creation of an insurance scheme that would support smaller companies wishing to sue patent infringers. UK: An English court dismissed Nestlé's attempts to register the shape of its Polo mint as a trade mark. The case, brought by Mars UK, concerned the legitimacy of Nestlé's attempts to make changes to its trade mark application during the registration process.

Following the first list of well-known marks published by the State Administration of Industry and Commerce (SAIC) in February this year, on June 21 2004, the SAIC published the second list, this time naming 26 marks. A total of 69 marks have now been formally recognized as well-known since the implementation of the Regulations for Recognition and Protection of Well-Known Marks last June.

The introduction of internationalized domain names (IDNs) has come a step closer, following the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) meeting in Kuala Lumpur on July 23.

Jim Mendenhall, Assistant US Trade Representative for Services, Investment and Intellectual Property

Australia's IP regime hit the headlines this year when politicians passed legislation to implement the Australia-US free trade agreement. More changes were introduced by the Designs Act 2003, a new law that came into force in June 2004 and introduced long overdue reforms to Australia’s design rules. David Webber, Victor Tse and Raymond Hind explain more

With no central patent court in sight, Europe’s litigation system will continue to be a confusing, expensive and challenging maze of possibilities. Big multinationals have to deal with it and have developed specific strategies to enforce their patents. Stéphanie Bodoni examines their tactics

As more and more foreign companies seek to boost profits by outsourcing service sector jobs to low-cost jurisdictions, IP professionals are becoming increasingly aware of the need to safeguard their companies' intellectual property in the process. Pravin Anand and Ameet Datta explain how outsourcing customers can avoid some of the potential pitfalls in India

Argentina's reforms have been met with approval by the patent community. Martín Bensadon and Ignacio Sánchez Echagüe explain what the changes mean to patent holders

California's Supreme Court has ruled that wine which is labelled Napa Valley should come mostly from vines in the Napa Valley area.