15 August 2019

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Intellectual Property Protection for Computer Programs – Part III

in Copyrights, Intellectual Property, Patents

This post was published on September 01, 2014.

In continuation to the previous post in this series, we will today be looking into copyright protection of computer software. As discussed in the previous post, Copyright Law came as an answer to the protection of computer programs at a time when the importance of Trade Secret Law for the same was dwindling.

A computer program, being composed of source codes can be brought under the ambit of literary works in Copyright Law. The basic principle governing Copyright Law is the idea / expression dichotomy. As per this principle, Copyright Law only protects the expression of ideas and not the ideas per se. While talking about the principle of the idea / expression dichotomy, it should be admitted that there has always been a lack of clarity regarding what constitutes an idea and what constitutes an expression. This inherent lack of clarity in Copyright Law combined with the complexity of a computer program prevents Copyright Law from being an effective system of protection.

15 August 2019

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Sound CAPTCHA – Patents for the Blind 3

Posted by BananaIP Reporter

in Intellectual Property, Patents

This image depicts Sound Captcha written over it with a red color background. This image is relevant as A patent granted to Towson University was granted this patent to validate captcha for blind person using their voice. Click on this image for more information

This post was published on September 01, 2014.

At one point, access to technology, especially the Internet, was only a dream for the visually disabled. For a long time, online tools were not accessible owing to either the lack of availability or high cost. But today, popular screen reading software applications like Job Access With Speech (JAWS) and open source screen reading software applications like NVDA are available for free. These applications allow a blind person to access a computer and perform several of its functions without the need of a screen!

Accessing the Internet was initially not very easy, but as days passed several modules were added to screen readers, and now, almost 50% of the Internet, especially the text based part, is accessible to the blind. Among the accessible websites, one common roadblock encountered by the visually disabled is the CAPTCHA.

CAPTCHA, Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart, is a method used to prevent automated programs from accessing secure websites. CAPTCHA normally displays an image, the data in which must be manually entered into another text box to authenticate a human user. Though Google’s RE-CAPTCHA provides an audio alternative, its success rate is less than 50%. I used this several times, and succeeded only once.

15 August 2019

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Part I: Descriptive Marks – Can They be Protected?

Posted by BananaIP Reporter

in Intellectual Property, Trademarks

This image depicts the 'Trademark' and 'Registered' symbols. This post is a part of a series on what marks are permissible as trademarks. Click on the image to read the full post.

This post was published on September 01, 2014.

In India, a Trade Mark means a mark capable of being represented graphically and capable of distinguishing goods or services of one person from those of others. These are the basic requirements for a mark to be eligible for Trade Mark protection laid down under Section 2(1)(zb) of the Trade Marks Act, 1999. Apart from these qualifications, a mark should also not fall under the category of the marks mentioned under Section 9 and 11 of the Trade Marks Act, 1999.

In this category, are Descriptive Marks. One can ask a lot of questions about Descriptive Marks, some of which have easy answers.

What are Descriptive Marks? As per the provision, descriptive marks are those which consist exclusively of marks or indications which may serve in trade to designate the kind, quality, quantity, intended purpose, values, geographical origin or the time of production of the goods or rendering of the service or other characteristics of the goods or services. Such marks can include words like ‘best’ describing quality of a product, ‘mega’ describing the size etc.

14 August 2019

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James Cameron: Revolution of Underwater Cinematography

Posted by BananaIP Reporter

in Intellectual Property, Patents

This image depicts world renowned Movie Director James Cameron holding a Camera. This image is relevant as he has earn accolades for his Underwater Cinematography. Click on the image for more information

This post was published on September 04, 2014.

A movie, a series of pictures, combined with sound effects and the lighting, is entertainment to people and business to its makers. But a truly good movie is something that touches people at their deepest emotions and leave an impression. When I think of a film director who has given audience some of the best films, one person that strikes my mind is James Francis Cameron.

Some of his works include Titanic, Aliens, Rambo: First Blood Part II and so on. After Titanic, he began working on a project that took almost 10 years to make. The movie is none other than Avatar, which took the film industry by storm, and he received nominations in three Academy Award Categories.

12 August 2019

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Indian Patent Statistics Interesting Inventions, Patent Dispute Settlement, Patent License Agreement and more

Posted by BananaIP Reporter

in Intellectual Property, Patents

Patent News Bulletin: Indian Patent Statistics, Indian Design Statistics, Interesting Inventions, Sony & Fujifilm settle patent dispute, OPPO signs patent license agreements with Intel and Ericsson and more” presented to you by the Patent attorneys and experts of BananaIP Counsels, India’s leading Patent Firm. Indian Patent Statistics A total of 1360 patent applications have been published in the 32nd issue of the Patent Journal, 2019. Out of the 1360 applications published in the journal, 158 applications account for early publications while 1202 applications account for ordinary publications or publications occurring after the 18 – month period. A total of 438 applications have been...

09 August 2019

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Shamnad Basheer, a Pioneer in the IP World Passes Away

Posted by BananaIP Reporter

in Intellectual Property

We are deeply saddened to learn about the untimely demise of Shamnad Basheer, a pioneer in the IP world. We will truly miss him and extend our heartfelt condolences to his family and friends. Shamnad's passing away leaves a void in Indian Intellectual Property that cannot be easily filled. We will always remember his contributions to IP law and policy, and will never forget his dedicated efforts towards making medicines accessible. BananaIP pays its tributes to Shamnad, a noble and distinguished IP professional, who has left a legacy that will always be remembered....

08 August 2019

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Patent Invalidation in the US: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Posted by BananaIP Reporter

in Intellectual Property, Patents

This post was first published on July 18, 2014.

After studying citations from patents that were invalidated by US Judges, researchers from the London School of Economics commented, “Patent invalidation has a significant impact on cumulative innovation in the fields of computers and communications, electronics and medical instruments (including biotechnology). We find no such effect in fields involving drugs, chemicals or mechanical technologies.” Let us now take a look at why this discrepancy exists.

What is patent invalidation?

The Patents Act outlines circumstances under which a granted patent can be revoked on certain grounds.

Who is affected by this and how has this come to be?

Start-ups seem especially vulnerable to bad patent policy because they may not have the legal or the economic negotiating power to deal with big business. The researchers commented that when large patentees are involved, bargaining breakdown occurs and small ﬁrms are normally less capable of resolving disputes cooperatively, without resorting to the involvement of courts.

07 August 2019

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Claim Drafting – Transitional Phrases

Posted by BananaIP Reporter

in Intellectual Property, Patents

This post was first published on July 17, 2014.

A transitional phrase is a part of the claim that connects the preamble and the body. The Transitional phrase determines as to whether a claim is “Open” “Partially Open” or “Closed.”

Open Claim

An Open claim includes additional unrecited elements i.e., if a claim, which is Open, recites elements A, B, C and D, then an article which includes elements A, B, C, D and E infringes the Open claim irrespective of the fact that the article has an extra element E which is not recited in the Open claim.

The term “comprising” in a claim makes the claim Open.

In, Gillette Co. v. Energizer Holdings, Inc., 405 F.3d 1367 (Fed. Cir 2005), a famous and much talked about case, the claim at issue recited “A safety razor blade unit comprising a guard, a cap, and a group of first, second and third blades. ” The accused infringing product included four blades. The court said that the word “comprising” makes the claim Open and hence, the scope of the claim encompasses all safety razors satisfying the elements set forth in the claim thus concluding that the accused product infringed the claim.

07 August 2019

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Shouldn’t a Request for Prioritized Examination be Given Priority?

Posted by BananaIP Reporter

in Intellectual Property, Patents

This image depicts Paper Tags having Urgent written on it. This image is relevant as the issue here is whether a request for prioritized examination be given more priority. Click on the image for more information

This post was published on September 17, 2014.

All applicants have a desire that their patent applications get prosecuted faster and their patents get a grant on priority, however, such desires are seldom fulfilled. Blame it on the backlog, if you will, and several other reasons for the delay, but patent applicants have to wait more than 3 years to get their patents granted.

Empathizing with the concerns of the applicant, several patent offices have devised procedures to expedite the prosecution of applications. Prioritized examination, accelerated examination, early examination are some of the provisions available to aid applicants in this pursuit. The most interesting among them is prioritized examination which aims to decide the fate of an application (refusal or grant) within 1 year of acceptance of request for prioritized examination.

06 August 2019

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Post-dating Patent Applications: Frisk it Before You Risk it!

Posted by BananaIP Reporter

in Intellectual Property, Patents

This post was published on August 08, 2014.

Our previous article on post-dating exposed the risks involved in the shifting ahead of the priority date of an application. The risk of losing priority can cost you dearly. Today’s post, however, unravels the puzzling question of how to claim priority even from a post-dated application!

We are aware that most applicants tend to post-date a provisional application as the deadline to file a non-provisional application (or complete application, in some jurisdictions) approaches, for reasons best known to the Applicants. Another commonly availed option is to post-date the priority application when the deadline to file a foreign application (1 year from the date of filing priority application) is missed. However, most of us tend to take it for granted that such post-dating will not jeopardize our patent rights and hence fearlessly proceed with the option. A peek into the legislation of certain jurisdictions might prompt us to reconsider these decisions to post-date applications.

Author: BananaIP Reporter

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