Indian patent statistics, Interesting inventions, Comprehensive e-filing system for Designs updated, Ms. Vinita, Senior Partner at BIP Counsels to deliver talk at the IIPLA 5th Dubai IP Congress, Apple to now pay $10 million to WiLAN, Qualcomm now pushes for iPhone sales ban in Germany, USPTO announces revised guidance for determining subject matter eligibility, EPO’s new vice-presidents elected and other Weekly Patent News updates” presented by the Patent attorneys and experts of BananaIP Counsels, India’s leading Patent Firm.
Quote of the Week
“Intellectual Property is the oil of the 21st century. Look at the richest men ago; they all made money by extracting natural resources or moving them around. Today’s richest men have made their money out of Intellectual Property.” – Mark Getty, an American businessman & Co-Founder of Getty Images.
Indian Patent Statistics
A total of 899 patent applications have been published in the 1st issue of the Patent Journal, 2019. Out of the 899 applications, 34 applications account for early publications while 865 applications account for ordinary publications or publications occurring after the 18-month period. A total of 235 applications have been granted this week.
Early Publications
| City | Total Publications |
| Delhi | 2 |
| Mumbai | 8 |
| Chennai | 24 |
| Kolkata | 0 |
| Total | 34 |
Ordinary Publications
| City | Total Publications |
| Delhi | 570 |
| Mumbai | 71 |
| Chennai | 209 |
| Kolkata | 15 |
| Total | 865 |
TOTAL PUBLICATIONS (This Week): 899
First Examination Report (FER) Statistics
A total of 1731 FER’s have been issued in the first week of 2019. Applicants and their agents can check if any of their patent applications have been examined by referring to the journal available here.
| City | No. of FER Issued |
| Delhi | 691 |
| Mumbai | 253 |
| Chennai | 474 |
| Kolkata | 313 |
| Total | 1731 |
PUBLICATIONS UNDER GRANT
| City | Total Grants |
| Delhi | 65 |
| Mumbai | 18 |
| Chennai | 93 |
| Kolkata | 59 |
| Total | 235 |
Number of Applications published based on applicant city
Of the total 899 patent applications published in the journal last week, Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Kolkata have contributed a total of 85 applications. The total applications from each of the previously mentioned cities are as follows – 34 applications from Chennai, 26 applications from Bangalore, 14 applications from Delhi, 10 applications from Hyderabad and 1 from Mumbai.
| List of Cities | 1st January 2019 – 4th January 2019 | 1st January 2019 – 4th January 2019 |
| Delhi | 14 | 14 |
| Mumbai | 1 | 1 |
| Bangalore | 26 | 26 |
| Chennai | 34 | 34 |
| Hyderabad | 10 | 10 |
| Kolkata | 00 | 00 |
Total number of applications published by the Indian Patent Office from the 1st of January 2019 till date: 899
- Early publications: 34
- Ordinary Publications: 865
Total number of patents granted by the Indian Patent Office from the 1st of January 2019 till date: 235
- Delhi – 65
- Mumbai – 18
- Chennai – 93
- Kolkata – 59
Indian Industrial Designs Statistics
The designs office has registered a total of 136 designs this week. The total designs registered from the 1st of January 2019 till date is 137 applications.
Total designs registered this Week: 137
Total designs registered from the 1st of January 2019 till date: 137
Interesting Inventions of the Week
Invention 1 – A PRODUCT FOR AUTOMATICALLY PREDICTING PRE TERM BIRTH
Patent Application No.: 201841041078
Applicant: R. Pari
Abstract: “The invention is a product for accurately predicting the preterm birth using pathology report of the expectant mother. The product is a web based application that works on internet. The product has the provision to capture the historical data of the expectant mothers who in the past had either the Preterm Birth (PTB) or the Normal Birth (NB). This product helps the expectant mothers to avoid the complications of labor and it also helps to avoid the neonatal death due to PTB. The product saves the expectant mothers who are predicted to have NB, from going through unnecessary treatment. The product uses a novel algorithm called Multi- Layer Stacked Ensemble (MLSE) designed specifically for classifying the birth as PT8 or NB. This product gives the flexibility of selecting the classifiers for constructing, the predictive model. The product has the feature to drag and drop the classifiers into each of the layers of MLSE. Thus the product builds the most suitable model for the given set of historical data. Due to this reason and also due to the efficiency of MLSE algorithm, the accuracy of the prediction is very high. The higher accuracy of prediction makes this product more reliable than the methods discussed in the prior art.” (The abstract has been provided as is and has not been corrected for errors)
Invention 2 – MULTIPURPOSE SMART SAFETY HELMET
Patent Application No.: 201821048815
Applicant: Harsh Radadiya et al.
Abstract: “This invention presents a safety helmet with integrated safety and smart communication mechanism. The conventional safety helmets can only protect the user™s head from heavy object while, this invention covers all safety features for protecting multiple face organs. The visor has weld glass attached with flexible movement for operation which when not required, is detachable. This invention consists of gas mask incorporated with visor for protection against hazardous environment. Specially designed gas mask does not create imbalance in weight of the entire system. The vertical and horizontal movement of gas mask improves the comfortability in operation. The protective fabric is incorporated on the back side within the helmet body for providing protection to the uncovered area of neck against adverse environment. The smart communication system integrated with safety helmet enables the local server to identify the current location of user. The rotary encoder incorporated in the tightening knob makes system sustainable by activating the smart system only when user wears the helmet. All safety embodiments can be attached and removed as per the requirement. So, the scope of present invention can be explored for all the areas where any of the mentioned safety gears are required.” (The abstract has been provided as is and has not been corrected for errors)
Invention 3 – SCRUBBER GLOVES WITH INBUILT LIQUID SOAP
Patent Application No.: 201741047173
Applicant: Dr. D. Balaji et al.
Abstract: “The hand glove for the purpose of washing and bathing with minor enhancement in features providing much better solution for the uses; In the form of better cleaning or washing. This system also provides the liquid soap in much controlled manners, save water to little infant. The hand glove is embedded with liquid soap with container and supply unit to send the controlled liquid soap to all the fingers evenly. There is trigger to activate the purpose as well as this could be achieved by adopting better design and development of container unit. That is if the material of container is selected in such way that trigger could be replaced.” (The abstract has been provided as is and has not been corrected for errors)
Indian Patent & Design Updates
Comprehensive e-filing system for Designs updated
In what may across as the perfect New Year gift, the office of the Controller General of Patents, Designs & Trademarks has updated the existing e-filing system for Designs application. Where, Applicants could only file design applications trough the e-filing system earlier, Applicants can now file all the required forms along with respective fee through the e-filing system.
BananaIP Updates
Ms. Vinita, Senior Partner at BIP Counsels to deliver talk at the IIPLA 5th Dubai IP Congress
Ms. Vinita Radhakrishnan, Senior Partner and Chief Patent Officer at BananaIP Counsels will be delivering a talk on ‘Trade Secret vs. Patents: A new Calculus’ on the 14th of January 2019 at the IIPLA 5th Dubai IP Congress. We will make her presentation available as usual shortly after the talk.
Patent infringement, disputes and settlements
Apple to now pay $10 million to WiLAN
Judge Dana Sabraw of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California while upholding the Court’s earlier decision that Apple infringed on two of WiLAN’s patents has slashed the original award of $145 million to WiLAN to $10 million. Considering that the parties had different ideas of what was required to be paid in damages, the Court offered WiLAN a choice of either accepting reduced damages to the amount of $10 million, or to prepare for a new trial, one that would only determine the amount of damages owed, since the infringement has been upheld.
The original lawsuit centered around two patents covering wireless communications technology, and how they are used in the iPhone. One details a “Method and Apparatus for Bandwidth Request/Grant Protocols in a Wireless Communication System,” while the other is for “Adaptive Call Admission Control for use in a Wireless Communications System.”
Qualcomm now pushes for iPhone sales ban in Germany
Chipmaking giant, Qualcomm has taken steps to enforce a court order which banned the sale of various iPhone models in Germany. The move will see Apple Inc pulling out models from their stores in Germany. Post-verdict, Apple said in a statement that it would be pulling all the iPhone 7 and 8 models from it’s own 15 retail stores in the country once the order comes to force. However, contradicting Qualcomm’s interpretation, Apple said it would be offering all its iPhones at retail and carrier locations in Germany.
International Patent News
USPTO announces revised guidance for determining subject matter eligibility
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) last week announced revised guidance for subject matter eligibility under 35 U.S.C. § 101 and guidance on the application of 35 U.S.C. § 112 to computer-implemented inventions which are to take effect from the 7th of January 2019. The “2019 Revised Patent Subject Matter Eligibility Guidance” makes two primary changes to how patent examiners apply the first step of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Alice/Mayo test, which determines whether a claim is “directed to” a judicial exception.
The official press release of the USPTO may be viewed here.
EPO’s new vice-presidents elected
The Administrative Council of the European Patent Organization (EPO) has elected Stephen Rowan, Nellie Simon and Christoph Ernst as vice-presidents at the European Patent Office (EPO).
Stephen Rowan will head the EPO’s Directorate-General Patent Granting Process, which is responsible for the entire patent granting process from end to end, including search, examination, publication, opposition and all related formalities, and for delivering support for the patent granting process to internal and external users of EPO services.
Nellie Simon will be in charge of the Directorate-General Corporate Services, which is responsible for support services including Human Resources, Information Management, Finance, General Administration and Central Procurement.
Christoph Ernst will lead the Directorate-General Legal and International Affairs, which is in charge of European and international co-operation, patent law and multilateral affairs, legal services, patent information and the European Patent Academy.
Source: EPO
Compiled by Vibha Amarnath & Gaurav Mishra
About BIP’s Patent Attorneys
Led by Senior Partners, Somashekar Ramakrishna, Nitin Nair and Vinita Radhakrishnan, BIP’s Patent Attorneys are among the leading patent practitioners in the country. They work with clients such as Mahindra and Mahindra, Samsung, HCL, Eureka Forbes, and Titan. They specialize in IT/Software, Electronics/Telecom, Mechanical, Automotive, and Bio/Pharma domains, and help clients with patent filing, prosecution, management and strategy in India, and across the world.
The weekly patent news initiative is a part of their pro bono work, and is aimed at spreading patent awareness. You are free to share the news with appropriate attribution and backlink to the source.
If you have any questions, you may write to BIP’s Patent Attorneys – [email protected]
