Australia: The Advisory Council on Intellectual Property, an independent body appointed by the government, released its report on business method patenting. The Council said the country should remain in line with Japan, the US and New Zealand, where business methods are patentable, rather than adopt the restrictive practice in jurisdictions administered under the European Patent Convention. Australia: The Australian Law Reform Commission has urged federal and state governments to take a tougher line on monitoring gene patents. The Commission has made 40 proposals and asked for feedback before it delivers its final report to the federal Parliament later this year. Japan: After officials from the Japanese Fair Trade Commission raided Microsoft's Tokyo offices on Thursday, the company made public its decision to scrap a clause in its licensing contracts that forces computer makers to give up their rights to claim Microsoft has violated their patents. Malaysia: Butt Wai Choon, managing director of Microsoft Malaysia, said that Malaysia continues to pose a piracy problem for the software industry, despite government enforcement attempts. Butt said that educating the public is the best means to defeat the problem. Thailand: Health lobbyists urged the Thai government to exclude IP rights from talks on a free trade agreement with the US. The groups claimed that provisions in the agreement would delay the introduction of cheaper copies of patented drugs in poor countries.
