“Amazon’s patents that track workers, CBI arrests two patent officials, National IP Awards 2018, Economic Survey reiterates Patent Backlog, Qualcomm and Samsung Patent Licensing deal, Revised MPEP published, Restriction Requirement, 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
“Lincoln said that the Patent Office adds the flame of interest to the light of creativity. And that is why we need to improve the effectiveness of our Patent Office” – Jay Inslee, American politician, author and attorney, currently the Governor of Washington
Indian Patent Statistics
There has been a fair increase in the total number of patent application published between the 27th of January 2018 and the 2nd of February 2018. A total of the 941 patent applications have been published, of which, 80 applications account for early publications while 861 applications account for ordinary publications or publications occurring after the 18 month period. A total of 366 applications have been granted between this period, thereby marking a significant increase of about 42.41% in grants.
Early Publications
| City | Previous Week | This Week | Percentage of change |
| Delhi | 10 | 2 | 80% decrease |
| Mumbai | 0 | 38 | – |
| Chennai | 11 | 24 | 118.18% increase |
| Kolkata | 1 | 16 | 1500% increase |
| Total | 22 | 80 | 263.64% increase |
Ordinary Publications
| City | Previous Week | This Week | Percentage of change |
| Delhi | 353 | 440 | 24.65% increase |
| Mumbai | 79 | 65 | 17.72% decrease |
| Chennai | 225 | 198 | 12% decrease |
| Kolkata | 8 | 158 | 1875% increase |
| Total | 665 | 861 | 29.47% increase |
TOTAL PUBLICATIONS (Previous Week): 687
TOTAL PUBLICATIONS (This Week): 941
Percentage difference: 36.97% increase
PUBLICATIONS UNDER GRANT
| City | Previous Week | This Week | Percentage of change |
| Delhi | 124 | 156 | 25.81% increase |
| Mumbai | 24 | 31 | 29.17% increase |
| Chennai | 63 | 119 | 88.89% increase |
| Kolkata | 46 | 60 | 30.43% increase |
| Total | 257 | 366 | 42.41% increase |
Number of Applications published based on applicant city
Of the total 941 patent applications published in the journal last week, Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Kolkata have contributed a total of 133 applications. The total applications from each of the previously mentioned cities for the past week are as follows – 41 from Delhi, 32 from Bangalore, 26 from Mumbai, 18 from Chennai, 12 from Hyderabad and 4 from Kolkata.
| List of Cities | 1st January 2018 – 2nd February 2018 | 27th January – 2nd February 2018 |
| Delhi | 234 | 41 |
| Mumbai | 115 | 26 |
| Bangalore | 100 | 32 |
| Chennai | 72 | 18 |
| Hyderabad | 59 | 12 |
| Kolkata | 18 | 4 |
Total number of applications published by the Indian Patent Office from the 1st of January 2018 till date: 4077
- Early publications: 329
- Ordinary Publications: 3748
Total number of patents granted by the Indian Patent Office from the 1st of January 2018 till date: 1304
- Delhi – 543
- Mumbai – 187
- Chennai – 419
- Kolkata – 216
First Examination Report (FER) Statistics
A total of 1196 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 | 408 |
| Mumbai | 199 |
| Chennai | 397 |
| Kolkata | 192 |
| Total | 1196 |
Indian Industrial Designs Statistics
The designs office has registered a total of 209 designs this week. This is more or less the same as the total number of designs registered in the previous week. The total designs registered from the 1st of January 2018 till date now adds to a total of 1060 applications.
Total designs registered in the previous Week: 208
Total designs registered this Week: 209
Percentage Difference: 0.48% increase
Total designs registered from the 1st of January 2018 till date: 1060
Interesting Patents & Designs
Amazon granted patent for tracking workers
Amazon and its innovative ways of tracking people and objects seem to be getting more intersting each day. After Amazon was recently awarded several patents for ways of tracking drones, moving customers and moving vehicles, the USPTO has granted yet another patent to Amazon for its invention disclosing a wristband that can track warehouse workers’ hand movements. The abstract of the granted US application 15/083,083 titled Ultrasonic bracelet and receiver for detecting position in 2d plane reads as follows:
“Ultrasonic tracking of a worker’s hands may be used to monitor performance of assigned tasks. An inventory system includes inventory bins configured to store inventory items, an ultrasonic unit, ultrasonic transducers, and a management module. The ultrasonic unit is configured to be worn by a user in proximity to the user’s hand and to periodically emit ultrasonic sound pulses. The ultrasonic transducers are arranged relative to the inventory bins and configured to receive the emitted pulses. The management module is operatively coupled with the ultrasonic transducers and configured to process signals generated by the ultrasonic transducers to identify an inventory bin based on proximity of the ultrasonic unit relative to the identified inventory bin. The management module monitors performance of an assigned task based on the identified inventory bin.” (The abstract has been taken from the patent specification as is and has not been corrected for errors.)
Patent Office Updates
Indian Patent Office invites Applications for National IP Awards-2018
The Office of the Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trademarks has invited the submission of Applications for its annual National IP Awards ceremony to be held later this year on the 26th of April 2018. The ten categories in which the awards shall be given include:
- Top Individual for Patents & Commercialization
- Top Indian Academic institution for Patents & Commercialization
- Top R & D institution/organisation for Patents & Commercialization
- Top Public Limited Company / Private Limited Company for Patents & Commercialization in India (Indian and Foreign)
- Top Indian Private Company (MSME) for Patents & Commercialization
- Top Start-up for IP Commercialization
- Top Indian Company /Organization for Designs
- Top Indian Company for creating Global brand
- Top Individual / organization for Best facilitation of Registration of GI and Promotion of registered GI in India
- Best Police Unit (District / zone in a commissionarate) for enforcement of IP in the Country
The last date for submission of the applications is 28th February 2018.
Click here to view the documents and download the application forms.
Government Updates
Senior Patent Officials arrested for accepting bribes
The anti-corruption wing of CBI last week arrested two senior officials from the Chennai Patent Office for demanding bribes to issue patents to a private company. Dr. S P Subramaniyan, the present deputy controller of patents and designs and T V Madhusudhan, former deputy controller of patents & designs were arrested for demanding a bribe of Rs 3 lakh and Rs 10 lakh on different instances relating to issue of patent rights.
Huge Backlog at Patent Office, Economic Survey reiterates
The economic survey released last week reiterated what is an already known fact that the Indian patent office is currently suffering a massive backlog of over 2 lakh patents. The survey reported that “During financial year 2016-2017, there were only 132 examiners for all patent applications across the country, resulting in a delay of five or more years to examine and grant patents.” This however comes as a surprise because the examiner strength at the patent office is currently around 540 and applications are being examined faster in order to reduce the pendency of the applications. The survey also highlighted and reiterated the ill effects of the backlog stating “Given the rapid rate of technological obsolescence, the inordinate delay in processing patents penalises innovation and innovators within the country.”
Patent Licensing & Commercialization
Qualcomm and Samsung sign new patent cross-licensing deal
Tech giants Qualcomm and Samsung have signed a new patent cross-licensing deal in an attempt to strengthen their long-term strategic position in the market. As part of the deal, Samsung has announced that it will be withdrawing its intervention in Qualcomm’s appeal of the Korean Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) decision in Seoul High Court. The KFTC had fined Qualcomm with a whopping $868 million fine following a three-year-long investigation, which found the chip maker of having an unfair business plan aimed at creating a monopoly with its practices.
International Patent Updates
USPTO publishes revised Manual of Patent Examining Procedure (MPEP)
The USPTO has recently published the revised Manual of Patent Examining Procedure. The summary of changes brought about in the revised MPEP can be viewed on the USPTO’s official blog or by clicking here. Substantive revisions have been made to Chapters 200, 700, 800, 900, 1000, 1200, 1400, 1500, 1800, 2000, 2100, 2200, 2300, 2500, 2700, and Chapter FPC
BananaIP’s Patent / Design Tip of the Week
Restriction Requirements
The USPTO often issues a Restriction Requirement objection when two or more independent and distinct inventions are claimed in one patent application. Usually, the restriction requirement is sent before prosecution starts and applicants are given two months to respond to the restriction requirement. The applicant may choose to respond to the restriction requirement “with or without traverse”.
Traversing a restriction requirement simply means that the applicant disagrees with the Examiner’s take on the need for restriction. Alternatively, the applicant may choose to respond “without traverse” by agreeing with the Examiner’s take on the need for restriction and choose a particular set of claims for further examination. However, it is important to note that, even if the response is with traverse, the applicant is still required to select a particular set of claims.
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].
