“Decrease in patent publications, Interesting Patents – Robots for rescue during earthquakes, Elevators and Braille Printers, Last Date for National IP Awards 2018 Application extended, Kim Kardashian reaches settlement with SnapLight, P&G settles patent infringement lawsuit with Ranir, nuCurrent to sue Samsung over alleged patent infringement, US and China lock horns at WTO, China to become top patent filer in 3 years, Protection of Ideas, Patent Tip of the Week and other Weekly Patent News,” presented by the Patent attorneys and experts of BananaIP Counsels, India’s leading Patent Firm.
Patent Quote of the Week
“A patent is a fire that was sparked by an idea”– Gaurav Mishra, Patent Associate, BananaIP Counsels
Indian Patent Statistics
A total of 670 patent applications have been published in the 12th issue of the patent journal. Of the 670 applications, 58 applications account for early publications while 612 applications account for ordinary publications or publications occurring after the 18 month period. A total of 311 applications have been granted this week as opposed to 401 from the previous week, thus marking a further decrease of about 22.44% in grants.
Early Publications
| City | Previous Week | This Week | Percentage of change |
| Delhi | 22 | 3 | 86.36% decrease |
| Mumbai | 73 | 27 | 63.01% decrease |
| Chennai | 16 | 18 | 12.5% increase |
| Kolkata | 16 | 10 | 37.5% decrease |
| Total | 127 | 58 | 54.33% decrease |
Ordinary Publications
| City | Previous Week | This Week | Percentage of change |
| Delhi | 358 | 317 | 11.45% decrease |
| Mumbai | 27 | 37 | 37.04% increase |
| Chennai | 176 | 245 | 39.2% increase |
| Kolkata | 138 | 13 | 39.2% decrease |
| Total | 699 | 612 | 12.45% decrease |
TOTAL PUBLICATIONS (Previous Week): 826
TOTAL PUBLICATIONS (This Week): 670
Percentage difference: 18.89% decrease
PUBLICATIONS UNDER GRANT
| City | Previous Week | This Week | Percentage of change |
| Delhi | 142 | 140 | 1.41% decrease |
| Mumbai | 49 | 32 | 34.69% decrease |
| Chennai | 136 | 70 | 48.53% decrease |
| Kolkata | 74 | 69 | 6.76% decrease |
| Total | 401 | 311 | 22.44% decrease |
Number of Applications published based on applicant city
Of the total 670 patent applications published in the journal last week, Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Kolkata have contributed a total of 83 applications. The total applications from each of the previously mentioned cities for the past week are as follows – 23from Mumbai, 18 from Bangalore, 14 each from Delhi and Hyderabad, 9 from Chennai and 5 from Kolkata.
| List of Cities | 1st January 2018 – 23rd March 2018 | 17th March 2018 – 23rd March 2018 |
| Delhi | 346 | 14 |
| Mumbai | 218 | 23 |
| Bangalore | 176 | 18 |
| Chennai | 125 | 9 |
| Hyderabad | 113 | 14 |
| Kolkata | 34 | 5 |
Total number of applications published by the Indian Patent Office from the 1st of January 2018 till date: 8550
- Early publications: 802
- Ordinary Publications: 7748
Total number of patents granted by the Indian Patent Office from the 1st of January 2018 till date: 3600
- Delhi – 1363
- Mumbai – 471
- Chennai – 1099
- Kolkata – 667
First Examination Report (FER) Statistics
A total of 1896 FER’s have been issued last week. Applicants and their agents can check if any of their patent applications have been examined by referring the journal available here.
| City | No. of FER Issued |
| Delhi | 653 |
| Mumbai | 323 |
| Chennai | 632 |
| Kolkata | 288 |
| Total | 1896 |
Indian Industrial Designs Statistics
The designs office has registered a total of 204 designs this week. The total designs registered from the 1st of January 2018 till date now adds to a total of 2502 applications.
Total designs registered in the previous Week: 201
Total designs registered this Week: 204
Percentage Difference: 1.49% increase
Total designs registered from the 1st of January 2018 till date: 2502
Interesting Patents
From Bots that aid in rescue of earthquake victims to elevators that come to you when called for instead of making you wait; here are some interesting patent applications published in this week’s patent journal.
Patent Application No.: 201821008351
Applicant: Vaibhav N. Kadam et al.
Title of the Invention: EARTHQUAKE RESCUE AND RELIEF OPERATIONS ROBOT
Abstract:
Earthquake affected regions pose threat not only to its victims but the rescue personnel who are concerned about saving them. The damage caused by earthquakes is massive which leads to destruction of buildings, roads, bridges etc. The victims are often trapped under such damaged structures, whose structural integrity is uncertain, thus acting as a barrier to the rescue operations. The primary idea behind developing Earthquake Rescue and Relief Operations Robot (ERROR bot) is to remove that barrier by deploying it in those regions and carrying out relief operations. Rescue bots must be rugged, robust and be able to move around in a multitude of terrains. This is particularly required because a region hit by an earthquake will have debris everywhere making the terrain highly irregular and non-uniform, and thus would be impossible to cover by traditional bots equipped with wheels. The ERROR bot overcomes this kind of limitation because it was designed with all-terrain motion in mind. The unique Tensegrity structures which constitute the entire body of the ERROR bot allow for robustness, ruggedness, and all-terrain motion. The other and the most important reason for opting such an unusual shape is that Tensegrity structures have this unique property of sustaining impacts by absorbing shocks, which makes it ideal to be used in relief operations. The flexible structure of the bot makes use of a to-and-fro motion much like that of an amoeba. ERROR bot is controlled by a user situated in a remote place using a Graphical User Interface that provides both the controls as well as a visual feedback or the first person view(FPV) of the bot using a camera placed in the structure. User monitors the FPV of the bot and searches for a possible survivor and when it finds one it delivers the relief gear to that survivor, that can be anything from vaccines, first-aid, knife etc.(The abstract has been taken from the patent specification as is and has not been corrected for errors, if any)
Patent Application No.: 201821008369
Applicant: Pratik Magadwar et al.
Title of the Invention: ELEVATOR SYSTEM TO AVOID FALSE CALL FROM FLOOR
Abstract: Unintentionally people waste a lot of time in lobby waiting for an elevator and over the years, that time can really be add up. If you work in an office building of metropolitan cities, it is estimated you’ll spend almost 14 years waiting for an elevator and about 5 years inside one. The invention discloses a system and method for monitoring the operation state of an elevator cart. The system comprises an elevator model consisting an elevator cage connected through chain sprocket to DC geared motor, a thermal sensor(PIR), IR sensors for floor alignment and processing unit i.e. micro-controller. The method comprises the following steps: when the call button is pressed from a floor; human motion or heat signature is detected; a signal is acquired from Passive Infrared Sensor (PIR) which are placed below the extruded slab (ceiling) between floors to carry out processing using Arduino Mega (atmega-2560) to decide the commutation of an elevator cage to that floor by obtaining real time data from sensor. The proposed system provides efficient utilization of elevator mechanism, less time consuming and energy saving method to travel vertically in commercial and residential buildings. (The abstract has been taken from the patent specification as is and has not been corrected for errors, if any)
Patent Application No.: 201821008369
Applicant: Subhrajyoti K. Halder et al.
Title of the Invention: BRAILLE PRINTER USING ANDROID SMARTPHONE
Abstract: There are many Braille printers available in the market but the prices of such printers are high and we cannot provide visual text to printers. There is no Android application which can be used with these printers. Our main aim behind this invention is that a blind person can print his/her information independent of the source i.e. digital screen or text documents. Printer can be operated using a button as well as audio commands. Audio commands are beneficial for blind people for interaction with printer. During each step user is guided with audio that will provide information regarding current ongoing process. If there is any error during any process it will be displayed on the LCD screen which can be understood by the normal people. With the help of our android application, they can extract text from the image and it will be sent to printer via Bluetooth and according to the data the printer gets it will print the output in the Braille format which will be understood by the blind person. The Braille alphabet is a 2×3 matrix. According to text received via Bluetooth it will print the number of dots required for the text to be recognized by the blind person. (The abstract has been taken from the patent specification as is and has not been corrected for errors, if any)
Indian Patent Office updates
Last Date for National IP Awards 2018 Application extended
The last date for the submission of completed applications for applying to the National IP Awards 2018 has been extended till the 30th of March 2018. The official notification and the application form in this regard may be downloaded or viewed by clicking here.
Patent Infringements, Disputes, Licensing and Settlements
Kim Kardashian reaches settlement with SnapLight
Kim Kardashian and SnapLight have settled a $100million patent infringement suit that was filed last year by SnapLight against the reality television star. SnapLight which owns a patent over illuminated phone cases had slapped Kim Kardashian’s company Kimsaprincess, Inc and her partner company LuMee for making a phone case with a built in light that bears a striking similarity to their own product.
P&G settles patent infringement lawsuit with Ranir
Procter & Gamble recently announced that it has agreed to a settlement with rival company Ranir over a patent infringement lawsuit that it has filed in 2017. In its suit, Procter & Gamble had alleged that Ranir had infringed a patented technology used in tooth-whitening strips proprietary to P&G. The company further distributed a version of Crest Whitestrips via Kroger, Walmart and other retailers in North America, thereby infringing Procter’s exclusive right to make, sell, use and offer for sale, the patented technology.
nuCurrent to sue Samsung over alleged patent infringement
A wireless charging and antenna design company called nuCurrent has said that it would be suing Samsung for infringement of the company’s patents as well as misappropriation of trade secrets relating to the wireless charging technology used in Samsung smartphones.
nuCurrent has further alleged that Samsung had asked the company to present its technology back in 2015 but showed no interest in using the showcased technology initially. It however went on to implement the same in its smartphones later. nuCurrent has also said that Samsung was under a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) and did not inform or take any consent from nuCurrent before making use of the technology showcased by nuCurrent.
International Patent Updates
US and China lock horns at WTO
The United States has dragged China to the World Trade Organization, accusing it of unfair technology practices that run counter to the WTO rules. In its complaint to the WTO, the US has alleged that China appears to be breaking WTO rules by denying foreign patent holders, including US companies, basic patent rights to stop a Chinese entity from using the technology after a licensing contract ends.
While China is notorious for disregarding and flouting international rules, it has an intellectual property policy that seeks to benefit the state first and the world later.
China to become top patent filer in 3 years
WIPO Director – General Francis Gurry in an official statement has announced that China has eclipsed Japan in the No. 2 rank among countries filing international patent applications and is on track to surpass the United States in the top spot within three years. The official website of WIPO further added that two Chinese technology companies were the top filers of international patent applications in 2017, with Huawei (number one filer) and ZTE (number two) followed by Intel, Mitsubishi and Qualcomm.
BananaIP’s Patent / Design Tip of the Week
Protection of Ideas
It is always a good idea to take appropriate measures to protect your idea before you disclose it to anyone. The means of protection may vary from filing a provisional patent application for the idea or by executing a mutually agreed upon Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA). The best and safest means of idea protection is undoubtedly the filing of a provisional patent application, a reason why the same is also known as idea patenting.
Author: 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].
