N. 4, October 2002 

Editorial 
UPDATING INDUSTRIAL PROPERTY IN SPAIN
José López Calvo
 
It is an honour for me to write for the Editorial of the IPR- Helpdesk-Bulletin, which is just starting. I would like to briefly review what constitutes, in my opinion, the essential developments regarding industrial property in Spain. Our Office's activities are organised around three specific areas: a first section on legislative and normative measures; a second section related to international actions and a third section referred to aspects related to the improvement of the files processing. ...
 
IP & RTD: Articles 
 
  New order for the design
Cecile Barrio
 
Everybody is speaking about it but nobody really knows about it and each one is yielding to it without knowing it. In the process of radical transformation, the whole world of design has its own aesthetical rules, but it remains to set the rules on its protection. ...
 
 
  Anti-counterfeiting in Europe - a difficult struggle
Laurence Morel-Chevillet
 
Although it is somewhat risky to quantify the size of the phenomenon of counterfeiting in Europe, it being mostly an underground activity, the estimates that can be made from the available evidence are alarming: €300,000,000,000 lost by business each year; 100,000,000 counterfeit products seized in the European Union in 2000 (that is, four times as...
 
  The implementation in Belgium of the Directive 2001/29/EC on the harmonisation of copyright and related rights in the information society
Fabrice de Patoul
 
Belgium will implement the EC Directive on copyright in the information society (Directive 2001/29/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 May 2001 on the harmonisation of certain aspects of copyright and related rights in the information society, Official Journal L 167 , 22/06/2001 P. 0010 - 0019) in the coming months. Indeed, a draft...
 
 
  What Should SMEs Take Into Account When Offering Their Products And Services On A Web Site?
Aurelio López-Tarruella Martínez
 
Electronic commerce constitutes a great opportunity for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to improve their businesses. However, there is uncertainty about the legal regime applicable to certain uses of the Internet. The purpose of this article is to explain the legal obligations SMEs must fulfil when they offer their products or services on...
 
  Intellectual Property in the Sixth Framework Programme
Lorena Boix
 
When this article is written, the Participation Rules1 have not yet been officially adopted. However, and with the reservations mentioned, some comments can be made about the treatment of intellectual property in the Sixth Framework Programme (from now on, 6FP)...
 
   
 
IP & RTD in practice 
 
  Prior art searches: a must for RTD participants
 
RTD projects participants often ignore prior art searches before entering an R&D activity. They often consider this type of search as an additional administrative burden. One can only highly recommend to conduct or let conduct this type of prior art searches before the project for the following reasons: ...
 
 
  Patent of the month
 
This month we want to offer to our readers a very recent invention whose purpose is to make our every-day lives easier, being very useful to those not very handy!...
 
  esp@cenet Quiz
 
The esp@cenet quiz is an exercise proposed monthly to our readers. Its aim is to show that patent searching can be an exciting quest, yielding relevant results in almost all technical fields...
 
 
 
  How to find a patent
 
In the first three issues of the IPR-Bulletin, we have presented most of the free online databases for searching a patent. In order to carry out a proper and efficient search, it is necessary to understand the way these databases are structured...
 
 
News 
 
  EU: Specific Programmes have been adopted in order to implement FP6 and FP6/Euratom
 
 
  EU. 12,000 Expressions of Interest in FP6 Have Been Received by the Commission
 
  Spain. The new "Internet Law" enters into force.
 
 
  US. The Senate clears the way for USA to join Madrid Protocol!
 
  EU: Commission's first report on patent law in the field of biotechnology and genetic engineering
 
 
  US: Supreme Court Hears The Case That Could Change Copyright
 
  UK. Does "A One minute Silence" plagiarize 4'33 minutes of silence?
 
 
  EU. Commission calls for a centralised Community Patent Court
 
  EU. Uneven application of the public lendig right in the EU
 
   
 
Events 
 
  Brussels (Belgium) 11-13 November 2002: Launch event for FP6.
 
   
 
Last updates 
  Last Updates of the IPR-Helpdesk Web Site
 
The IPR-Helpdesk team is very pleased to inform you that since the last issue of the IPR-Bulletin, very useful and interesting new documents have been posted on our Web site...

 
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