The current European and national legal framework on industrial and intellectual property is being respected.

The directive on the application of industrial and intellectual property rights is therefore an important instrument in combating the phenomenon and must be quickly adopted before the accession of the new countries, where counterfeiting and piracy are particularly widespread.

As regards the protection of industrial and intellectual property rights, the focus is on three important legislative proposals the Community Patent (see MEMO/03/47, MEMO/02/255, MEMO/01/451, IP/00/714 and MEMO/00/41), the Directive on the patentability of computer-implemented inventions (see IP/02/277, MEMO/02/32) and the Directive on the enforcement of intellectual property rights (see IP/03/144, MEMO/03/20) - which aim in different ways to ensure that the system remains relevant to the needs of industry and consumers.

Further legislation and mechanisms to protect and enforce industrial and intellectual property rights notably the adoption of the Community Patent Regulation - is also needed to provide extra incentives for innovation.

'A judgment of a court of a Member State does not infringe public policy in another Member State within the meaning of Article 27(1) of the Brussels Convention on the sole ground that it recognises an industrial or intellectual property right over component parts which, taken as a whole, make up the bodywork of a car already placed on the market, and that it affords protection to the holder of such an exclusive right, by prohibiting, subject to sanctions, third parties, namely economic operators established in another Member State, from manufacturing and selling such component parts in the Member State where the judgment was given, or fr ...[+++]om importing or exporting them in that State.

Mr. Guilbert also mentioned the growing importance of industrial and intellectual property, especially acquiring patents to protect public investments and ensure they make money.