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There were 23 Americans on our MIP 50 list of the most influential people in IP, published in last month's issue. But, judging from readers' responses, that was not enough.

On July 24 2003 the National Copyright Administration of China (NCAC) issued the new Implementing Measures for Administrative Penalties on Copyright Infringement, effective September 1 2003, to replace the earlier measures issued in 1997. The Measures aim to make the provisions consistent with those of the new Copyright Law and Copyright Implementing Regulations which underwent substantial amendments in 2001 and 2002 respectively. Moreover, they supplement the Law and the Implementing Regulations so as to make them more operable when it comes to administrative enforcement of copyright. The major changes are as follows.

The counterfeit industry in Korea is proving hard to contain. Korean counterfeiters are producers and exporters of fake goods on a global scale. But now trade mark owners have organized themselves and are fighting back. Ralph Cunningham reports

Alvaro Cabeza and Paz Martín examine how the Spanish courts have tackled trade mark and copyright disputes involving the internet, and ask what lessons have been learned for rights owners

Design protection has recently been overhauled in Spain. Jorge Llevat of Cuatrecasas in Barcelona examines the reforms, and explains how rights owners can best obtain protection

Judge Paul Michel has been a judge on the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit for 15 years, and is scheduled to become Chief Judge next year. Ingrid Hering met him at the FICPI World Congress in Berlin in June and asked how patent law has developed and how advocacy in the court can be improved

Is trade mark use on the part of a defendant a prerequisite to trade mark infringement? We reported in the last issue of Managing Intellectual Property that the answer to this question seemed clear and that "trade mark use" (that is, use to indicate the commercial origin of the goods or services concerned) is not a prerequisite to trade mark infringement.

The new Intellectual Property Bill, which was presented to Parliament in June 2003, was challenged in the Supreme Court in SC Case No 14/2003. The applications were filed by the Centre for Policy Alternatives and, in Case No SC 16 of 2003, by Dr Kamalika Abeyratne, chairperson of AIDS Coalition in Sri Lanka, and Nihal Fernando. The matter came up before the Supreme Court consisting of the Chief Justice Sarath N Silva and Justices Shirani Bandaranayake and J A N de Silva.

The exclusive rights of a trade mark proprietor and the interests of competitors and the general public in free trade require a compromise, so that in certain instances third party use of the trade mark cannot be prohibited. Such constellations are inter alia mentioned in Section 23 of the 1994 German Trade Mark Act, which permits the use of a third party's own name or address (number 1), the use of an indication concerning the characteristics or features of the goods or services (number 2) or where such use is necessary to indicate the intended purpose of a product, in particular as an accessory or spare part or a service, insofar as the use is necessary for it (number 3), provided the use is not contrary to the principles of morality.

Alain Coriat and Ricardo Fischer of Hoet Pelaez Castillo & Duque in Venezuela tackle the misconception that globalization and IP protection is detrimental to developing countries