07 February 2015

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Patent: IEEE amends it’s IP policy to minimize litigation related to Standard Essential Patents

The IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) Standards Association (IEEE-SA) has proposed a change to it’s IP (Intellectual Property) policy. The revised policy can be viewed here. The new policy comprises revisions to the provisions related to commitments from holders of Standards Essential Patents. The revised policy states that the patent holders have to make licenses for Standards Essential Patents available to other parties under Reasonable and Non-Discriminatory (RAND) terms. The biggest change with respect to the updated policy is that the patent holder should not seek or enforce an injunction against an entity that implements a product with the...

07 February 2015

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Patent: Patents are Forever; What Jobs teaches you from the Grave!

Posted by BananaIP Reporter

in Patents

This image depicts a set of Tombstones in a Graveyard. This image is relevant as it article is all about granting of patent even after death. Click on the image for more information

Deceased inventors can also get Patents granted, if the approval process gets drawn out, or when attorneys seek “continuations” – new versions of old patents. And the more lawyers and money an inventor has, the more likely his ghost will rattle on. The estate of Jerome Lemelson, the sometimes-controversial independent inventor who came up with the bar code reader, received 96 patents following his death in 1997 at the age of 74!

And that’s how, since Steve Jobs’ death in 2011 from pancreatic cancer, the former Apple CEO has received 141 patents, the highest number as of now! That’s more than most inventors get during their lifetimes.

06 February 2015

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Is Criteria to Determine Obviousness in Patent Still Ambiguous?

Posted by BananaIP Reporter

in Intellectual Property, Patents

The Courts have often engaged in discussion of the legal non-obvious inquiry, only with respect to evaluating whether it was obvious to combine certain elements and not with respect to the ultimate question of evaluating the level of advance over prior art or identifying the quantum of advance necessary to achieve non-obviousness. In the context of combining prior art, the Court explained the need to consider market demand, design incentives, and other market forces that might lead to combinations or variations of prior art, or that a technique used with one product may be expected to be used with another. The Court...

03 February 2015

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New Intellectual Property Rights to ease Patent filing

Posted by BananaIP Reporter

in Intellectual Property, Patents

This image depicts a signboard titled "innovation". This image is relevant because this post talks about the future of India's new IPR policy. Click on the image to view full post.

Under the existing Intellectual Property (Rights) regime in India, thousands of promising innovations and inventions remain un-patented. The new Intellectual Property Rights policy plans to change that. The first draft of the (IPR) policy released on December 19, 2014, emphasizes on the need to formulate a new IP law to facilitate the patenting of various ground-breaking Indian inventions. In November, 2014, the Government formed an IP think-tank under former IPAB (Intellectual Property Appellate Board) chairman justice, Prabha Sridevan, which also formulated the National Intellectual Property Rights policy. The think-tank is of the view that making the patenting process of promising technologies...

30 January 2015

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True Position Inc.’s Device Locator Patent Invalidated

Posted by BananaIP Reporter

in Intellectual Property, Patents

In a final written decision of an inter partes review under the America Invents Act (AIA), the United States Patent and Trademark Office's (USPTO) Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) stated that True Position Inc.'s (device locator) patent - 7,783,299, which describes a system for locating wireless devices in an emergency, is invalid in light of three prior art references. US patent 7,783,299 covers monitoring links in a wireless network, and triggering network events detected on those links. The technology has broad applications in anti-terrorism, law enforcement and public safety services worldwide. Polaris Wireless Inc. had challenged True Position Inc.'s (device...

30 January 2015

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What makes Samsung want to buy Blackberry?

Posted by BananaIP Reporter

in Intellectual Property, IP Commercialization/Licensing, Patents

This image depicts a Blackberry phone. This post discusses why Samsung wants to acquire Blackberry from an IP perspective. Click on the image to read the full post.

The market is rife with the reports of Korean phone-maker Samsung intending to acquire Blackberry for $7.5 billion, in spite of both the companies labelling the reports “groundless”. The speculation sent the Canadian smart-phone maker’s stock soaring 30% before it fell down by 17%. The possibility of the acquisition has raised a very important question- What makes Blackberry so appealing to Samsung? The acquisition would give Samsung the access to Blackberry’s robust patent portfolio that includes 44,000 patents worth over $1.43 billion. These patents cover security, business to business sector and Blackberry’s car entertainment software, giving an edge to Samsung to...

29 January 2015

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Patent: ‘Killead’s Patent Application Killed by the Indian Patent Office!

Posted by BananaIP Reporter

in Patents

This image depicts a person holding a placard reading GILEAD 1,000 per Pill, Shame. This image is relevant as Gilead had filed for a patent for the same medicine in India for the same price. Click on the image for more information

Gilead Sciences was rejected patent for its blockbuster drug Sofosbuvir, a new Hepatitis C drug by the India Patent Office in a major decision taken on 13 January 2015. The drug is branded under the name Sovaldi. Gilead had priced the drug at US$84,000 for a treatment course, or $1,000 per pill in the US and had received a regulatory approval in US in 2013. The patent application (6087/DELNP/2005) for the drug was opposed by the Indian generic company Natco; Medicines, Access & Knowledge a non-profit initiative; and the Delhi Network of Positive People (DNP+) pointing out that the drug does...

16 January 2015

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Patent: Roche’s backbone rendered brittle by Indian Patent Office

Posted by BananaIP Reporter

in Patents

The Chennai Patent Office revoked Hoffmann-La-Roche’s patent on its osteoporosis drug, Bonviva, in response to post grant opposition filed by Indian drug maker, Cipla Global Ltd. The drug in question comprises Ibandronate Sodium, used to treat patients suffering from metastatic cancer, associated skeletal fractures and osteoporosis and also for the treatment and prevention of osteoporosis in post-menopausal women. Osteoporosis is the progressive bone disease caused by decrease in bone mass making bones extremely weak and fragile, leading to increased risk of fractures. The drug is marketed as Boniva in the US, Bondronat in Europe and Bonviva in Asia.

The patent in dispute bearing number 208,718, was granted by the patent office in 2007 based on an application filed by Roche in 2001. It covers oral pharmaceutical composition of the active ingredient Ibandronate Sodium with a controlled dissolution rate for the treatment of Osteoporosis. A post grant opposition filed by Cipla in 2008, was refused by the patent office in 2010 upholding Roche’s patent. Cipla appealed to the IPAB, which set aside patent office’s order, asking them to reconsider the matter based on expert evidence and recommendations of the opposition board.

14 January 2015

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Intellectual Property: Weekly Warm-UP!

Posted by BananaIP Reporter

in Copyrights, Media and Entertainment Law, Patents, Trademarks

GOOGLE V. SPAIN – SPANISH PUBLISHERS SUFFER AS GOOGLE NEWS CLOSES OPERATIONS

A new Copyright law which has made it mandatory for Google, Yahoo and other news aggregators to pay licensing fee to all news publishers for using their stories or snippets in Google News, results in Google cutting its operations in Spain. However, the regulation allowed publishers to opt in to Google’s index, and prevent Google from paying licensing fee.

In UK, music can be legally copied to a private system but a strong resistance was noticed from the UK music industry. The law came into force on October 1, 2015.

13 January 2015

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Patent: Drug Humira turns Rheumatic for Abbott Biotechnology

Posted by BananaIP Reporter

in Intellectual Property, Patents

The image depicts some tablets inside a glass. This image is relevant as Drug Humria was not granted Patent in India. Click on the image for more information

The Indian Patent Office on December 31, 2014 set aside its order of granting a Patent to Abbott Biotechnology for its drug, Humira, in light of pre-grant opposition filed by Glenmark Pharmaceuticals. In November, 2003, Abbott had filed a patent application No. 526/DELNP/2005 for its drug named Humira, a formulation of human antibodies for treating Rheumatoid Arthritis. Glenmark filed a pre-grant opposition to this application in September, 2008. Since this was not brought to the notice of the Controller, Patent No. 234,555 was granted to said invention in June, 2009.

In July, 2009, this discrepancy was brought to the notice of the Controller by Glenmark. The Controller cancelled the Patent grant with immediate effect through a letter dated October 30, 2009. In the meantime, Glenmark also filed a Writ Petition before the Delhi High Court against the order of the Controller granting the Patent. However, the same was disposed of by the Court as infructuous in light of the Order of the Controller dated October 30, 2009 cancelling the patent grant.

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