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AS the pace of technological change continues to accelerate, the issues of who 'owns' the technology and how intellectual property can be adequately protected loom large in the minds of governments, corporations, and individuals.
 With increasing concerns about counterfeit and pirated products threatening relations between major, long-term trading partners, members of these interest groups are turning to a relatively small group of lawyers to help manage the complexities of international technology transfer and intellectual property rights.
Murdoch University's Asia Pacific Intellectual Property Law Institute is one centre of expertise that is rapidly gaining international recognition in the field.
Led by the Dean of Law, Professor Michael Blakeney, and Associate Professor Michael Pendleton, the Institute is already active on the international scene, with commissions from the United Nations, the European Commission and Indonesian government agencies.
Professors Blakeney and Pendleton have received a major grant from the Australia Research Council to examine strategies for the control of international trade in counterfeit and pirated products that breach intellectual property rights.
Their project builds on work undertaken by the Institute for the European Commission's ASEAN Patents and Copyrights Programme.
Professor Blakeney, whose book Legal Aspects of Technology Transfer to Developing Countries is a standard text in the field, has recently completed a commission for the United Nations Development Program in Vietnam.
During November 1996, he worked with the Vietnam Ministries of Science, Technology and the Environment, Justice and Finance to draft a Decree on Technology Transfer.
This month the Intellectual Property Law Institute is presenting an intensive training course for officials of Vietnam's Justice Ministry, and a similar course will be presented to officials from the Indonesian Technology Transfer Bureau.
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