provided during Antoinette's presentation on the importance of non-proprietary names to industry. Antoinette also outlined future challenges from the industry perspective and one could but agree that the world is going to become increasingly complicated for those that want to bring their drugs to the market. between trade marks and identity rights in the USA, where identity rights are granted strong protection under statutory provisions. By way of contrast the UK is still fumbling with the protection of identity rights by way of 'false endorsement', a form of 'passing off'. In a world that seems to be increasingly subject to the power of social media, which acknowledges few if any borders, the conflict between legal systems is a source of increasing concern. To a visitor from Europe (or as I was to learn from anywhere other than New Zealand) the prevalence of direct to consumer advertising of pharmaceutical Rafaella Balocco Matavelli activities of the USAN program, with which relatively few in the audience will have had direct engagement and yet the considerations are very familiar; from a marketing perspective each pharma company wants to establish a new nonproprietary name to indicate a new and Antoinette Lachat revolutionary drug, but of course these are more meaningful if there are fewer of them. The panellists acknowledged that there are serious limitations to the effectiveness of the programs that had been discussed and it was hard not to be struck that this seemed at such odds to the importance of the work they were doing. There seems to be a dangerous lack of cooperation between trade mark offices and regulatory bodies and yet, for example, INN is dependent upon national authorities implementing what are in effect only recommendations. India was cited as a country that posed particular problems as it appears to be reluctant to understand the INN programme and what it seeks to achieve and yet this is such a crucial territory to the pharmaceutical industry as a whole. The risks were clearly highlighted by some truly frightening examples of trade marks so similar to non-proprietary names as to create a genuine risk of confusion, The focus shifted slightly as Carmen Catizone presented details of the background and purpose of the .pharmacy gTLD. A frightening proportion of pharmaceuticals are sold direct to the consumer via the internet, creating complex problems for the regulatory authorities. Despite clear and serious risks, increasing numbers of consumers place both their health and financial information on the internet, but it seems that the .pharmacy gTLD has the potential to provide some genuine protection by creating a safe and legitimate marketplace. There is global support for .pharmacy, but it will only succeed if the authorities can maintain continuous compliance monitoring, pharma companies invest in the domain and, crucially, there is significant joint investment in consumer education. Carmen Catizone products in the USA is astonishing and Thursday's final presentation, made by Anthony Genovese, provided an entertaining and informative overview of the subject. There appears to be a reassuring system of validating claims within adverts and there is no doubt that the pros and cons of DTC advertising are well balanced. Whilst I remain bewildered by the idea that a lack of 'eyelash fullness' could be considered a 'medical' condition, by the end of Anthony's presentation my understanding and indeed appreciation of DTC had increased considerably. On Thursday evening delegates headed to Lake Michigan for an evening cruise. It was a wonderfully relaxed environment and we were accompanied by an excellent Chicago blues band as we travelled along the shoreline. It is a universal fact that no matter how old one gets, fireworks still have an almost magical effect and although the air was crisp most delegates enjoyed a glorious display from the deck. Anthony Genovese Jonathan Jennings' presentation comprehensively covered the interplay 8 Jonathan Jennings