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- Panama becomes party to the Berne Convention.
- A new copyright law enacted by Kazakstan takes effect.
- A Romania copyright law enacted on February 20 takes effect.
JULY
- A Hong Kong district court concluded the first piracy case tried under the enhanced penalty provisions enacted in May 1995. Two defendants were convicted, fined, and sentenced to short prison terms.
- Nicaragua becomes a party to the Paris Convention.
- A new Belarussian copyright law takes effect.
- The Venezuelan Government formed a special anti-piracy unit (COMANPI) to act as an enforcement arm of the copyright office.
- A Singapore court sentenced two counterfeit software resellers to long prison terms, the longest sentences ever handed down in a copyright infringement case in Southeast Asia, for possession of counterfeit CD-ROMs.
- A July 12 Panamanian Supreme Court decision provisionally suspended portions of Panama's 1994 copyright law that empower the Panamanian Copyright Office to conduct ex officio seizures of counterfeit foreign works.
- On July 2, USTR initiated a Section 301 investigation and requested WTO dispute settlement consultations with India for its failure to fulfill the "mailbox" and "exclusive marketing rights" obligations of the TRIPs Agreement.
AUGUST
- Czech Republic became party to Trademark Law Treaty.
- China's State Administration of Industry and Commerce (SAIC) issued provisional regulations on the confirmation and administration of well-known trademarks on August 14.
- Portugal amended its Industrial Property Code (Decree Law 141/96) on August 23 to make it consistent with the WTO TRIPs Agreement.
- The Taiwan Ministry of Justice issued two letters to Prosector Offices to instruct them to (1) accept Power-of-Attorneys executed in conformance with the law of the state in which the foreign company is located when submitted by the foreign copyright owners or Taiwan agent and; (2) investigate and seek indictments of Taiwan nationals whose conduct on mainland
