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The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on April 14 2000 handed down a decision that required the Director (prior to March 29 2000, the Commissioner) of the United States Patent and Trademark Office to retract his own earlier refusal to permit a patent applicant to correct, pursuant to PCT Rule 91.1 and 37 CFR 1.183 (a US Patent and Trademark Office rule) an incorrect patent application number contained in a Demand for International Preliminary Examination. This decision, Helfgott & Karas, PC v Dickinson, 54 USP Q2d 1425 (Fed Cir 2000) concludes that the Director "acted arbitrarily and capriciously in dismissing the plaintiff's petition to correct the erroneous Demand for International Preliminary Examination", inter alia, because PCT Rule 91.1 is legally binding on the Director and allows the correction of "obvious errors" in certain PCT filings, including such Demands.

Tacking allows you to secure priority for your US trade marks by citing earlier registrations. But Thomas M Williams warns that recent cases have limited trade mark owners' ability to tack old marks on to new ones

In the first decision of its kind, Singapore's High Court has upheld a biotechnology patent on the HIV-2 virus. It is a decision that will be greeted with interest worldwide, says Tony Yeo

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Franchising has a big role to play in internet business. As the e-conomy takes off, Mark Abell and Andrew Scott argue that traditional views of market exclusivity in Europe must be changed

The Romanian Patent Law 64/1991 provides for the possibility of obtaining an improvement patent.

With the creation of an Intellectual Property Prosecution Office, as well as the substitution of the inquisitive criminal system, (in substitution of the accusatory system), Venezuela's judicial branch has expanded its range in protecting patentees from patent infringement.

The so-called Belgian torpedo action has become a popular defence to a cross-border patent action. But three recent cases threaten to undermine its effectiveness. Johann Pitz reports

According to German case law, patents directed to the use of a substance or a device for a certain purpose may confer protection which goes beyond the actual application of the method of use. If the product involved shows an "obvious orientation" or "apparent adaptation" towards the protected use, a use claim protects a patentee essentially in the same manner as a product claim directed to that product. This adaptation of the product includes acts as formulation, ready-for-use packaging together with instructions, dosage (for medical substances), or similar preparations towards the protected use.

A new trade mark law came into effect on June 1 2000 through the Emergency (Trade Marks) Order 1999. The new law is based on the UK Trade Marks Act 1994 and repeals the old Trade Marks Act (Cap 98).