IPO & JPO to be competent ISA & IPEA to each other under PCT; Apple fined $308.5 million for patent infringement, says “will appeal”; EPO publishes patent index 2020
Indian Patent News
IPO & JPO to be competent ISA & IPEA to each other under PCT
India and Japan have mutually agreed to recognize each other’s offices as be competent International Searching Authority and International Preliminary Examining Authority (ISA/IPEA) for any international (PCT) patent application filed with them. This decision comes as part of the 4th Review meeting held under Indo-Japan Memorandum of Cooperation on Industrial Property on the 19th of March 2021. According to the press release by DPIIT, both sides have agreed to commence the function of Offices acting mutually as competent ISA / IPEA under the PCT, from July 1st, 2021.
Currently, any person filing an international (PCT) patent application with the Indian patent office as the receiving office can choose from among seven competent ISAs / IPEAs, these include Austria, Australia, China, Europe, India, USA and Sweden. On the other hand, any person filing an international (PCT) patent application with the Japanese patent office can choose from among three competent ISAs / IPEAs which include Europe, Japan and Singapore.
To read the official press release of DPIIT, click here.
Patent Disputes, Settlements and Licensing news
Apple fined $308.5 million for patent infringement, says “will appeal”
A federal jury in Texas has found Apple guilty of infringing patents relating to digital rights management technology, FairPlay. The patent which deals with “method of decrypting programming at a receiver station” was filed by one Personalized Media Communications (PMC) and covers Apple’s FairPlay services. PMC had initially filed this suit in 2015 when it accused Apple of infringing seven of its patents. Apple had then successfully challenged the validity of PMC’s patents. The decision of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board was later overturned by the appeals court in 2020 which led to the suit being revived now.
Despite PMC not being a creator or seller of any products, the court observed that the company was not a patent troll as it licenses its own internally invented patent on an exclusive basis. Apple has nonetheless, said that it would appeal this decision.
International Patent News
EPO publishes patent index 2020
The European Patent Office (EPO) last week published the patent index for 2020. According to the data published, patenting activity in 2020 was primarily driven by innovation in healthcare and medical technology. While, medical technology emerged as the leading field for inventions in terms of volume, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology were the fastest-growing areas. In terms of geographic origin of inventions, the top five countries filing into Europe were USA (44 293 applications), Germany (25 954), Japan (21 841), China (13 432) and France (10 554).
To view and read the full report, click here.
Authored & Compiled by Gaurav Mishra
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