“Google granted patent on motorized laptop, Amazon gets patent for self destructing drones, IIT Bombay beats IIT Madras in patent filings, Mr. Sanjeeth Hegde interviewed by Super Lawyer, Certificate Course on Protection & Commercialization of IPR by FICCI and Indian Patent Office, Apple v. Qualcomm, Docomo and Samsung patent license agreement, EC issues guidelines on Standard Essential Patents (SEPs), Importance of Foreign Filing Permits, 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
“Invest, Invent, Patent – that is just one part of the story” – Gaurav Mishra, Patent Associate, BananaIP Counsels.
Indian Patent Statistics
There has been a fair increase in the total number of patent applications that have been published this week by the Indian Patent Office. A total of 1804 patent applications have been published this week as opposed to 1094 applications in the previous week. Of the 1804 patent applications, 87 applications account for early publications while 1717 applications are ordinary publications or publications occurring after the 18 month period. In line with the increase in publications, grants have also increased this week by over 27%.
Early Publications
| City | Previous Week | This Week | Percentage of change |
| Delhi | 11 | 35 | 218.18% increase |
| Mumbai | 0 | 26 | – |
| Chennai | 30 | 25 | 16.67% decrease |
| Kolkata | 0 | 1 | – |
| Total | 41 | 87 | 112.2% increase |
Ordinary Publications
| City | Previous Week | This Week | Percentage of change |
| Delhi | 501 | 835 | 66.67% increase |
| Mumbai | 85 | 289 | 240% increase |
| Chennai | 426 | 409 | 3.99% decrease |
| Kolkata | 41 | 184 | 348.78% increase |
| Total | 1053 | 1717 | 63.06% increase |
TOTAL PUBLICATIONS (Previous Week): 1094
TOTAL PUBLICATIONS (This Week): 1804
Percentage difference: 64.9% increase
PUBLICATIONS UNDER GRANT
| City | Previous Week | This Week | Percentage of change |
| Delhi | 92 | 106 | 15.22% increase |
| Mumbai | 25 | 36 | 44% increase |
| Chennai | 62 | 83 | 33.87% increase |
| Kolkata | 33 | 45 | 36.36% increase |
| Total | 212 | 270 | 27.36% increase |
Number of Applications published based on applicant city
Of the total 1804 patent applications published this week, Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Chennai, Delhi and Hyderabad have contributed a total of 222 applications. The total applications from each of the previously mentioned cities are as follows – 27 from Mumbai, 66 from Bangalore, 23 from Delhi, 25 from Chennai, 52 from Hyderabad and 29 from Kolkata.
| List of Cities | 1st January 2017 – till date | 25th November 2017 to 1st December 2017 |
| Mumbai | 1538 | 27 |
| Bangalore | 1376 | 66 |
| Delhi | 819 | 23 |
| Chennai | 901 | 25 |
| Hyderabad | 525 | 52 |
| Kolkata | 383 | 29 |
Total number of applications published by the Indian Patent Office from the 1st of January 2017 till 1st December 2017: 34372
- Early publications: 2839
- Ordinary Publications: 31533
Total number of patents granted by the Indian Patent Office from the 1st of January 2017 till 1st December 2017: 11913
- Delhi – 4905
- Mumbai – 1239
- Chennai – 3992
- Kolkata – 2267
First Examination Report (FER) Statistics
A total of 1149 FER’s have been issued this 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 | 384 |
| Mumbai | 186 |
| Chennai | 417 |
| Kolkata | 162 |
| Total | 1149 |
Indian Industrial Designs Statistics
The designs office at Kolkata has registered a total of 232 designs this week. This marks an increase of about 12.62% from to the total number of designs registered in the previous week. The total designs registered from the 1st of January 2017 till date now adds to 8998 applications.
Total designs registered in the previous Week: 206
Total designs registered this Week: 232
Percentage Difference: 12.62% increase
Total designs registered from the 1st of January 2017 till date: 8998
Interesting Patents
Google granted patent for smart, motorised laptop
Google has recently been awarded a US patent for what appears to be an extremely cool technology. Likely to be part of the Google Pixelbook, the patented invention is titled “Notebook computer with motorized display positioning” and discloses several interesting features that could potentially revolutionize the laptop screen market. According to the patent specification, the lid will detect when a user is nearby, open up to the right orientation and unlock the device when required. The lid would also keep track of a user’s face and keep the lid always aligned to that face. The application also describes processes where the lid can also close when it detects the absence of a user. It will also be smart enough to use various sensors including ambient and proximity sensors as well as accelerometer input to determine if the device is in an enclosed space or if a user is walking.
The abstract text of the US patent 9,823,631 reads as follows:
“A portable computer that has a motorized hinge structure capable of moving the lid between an open and closed position. The movement of the lid is based on input from a plurality of sensors. One sensor may be configured to determine whether the user is within a predetermined threshold distance. Another sensor may be capable of detecting whether the user has made direct contact with the laptop. In one embodiment, the computer may have an image sensor configured to detect the user’s face and continuously adjust the angle and position of the lid to keep the face in the field of view of the camera and/or keep the lid in the optimum viewing position.”
Amazon patents self destructing drones
Amazon Technologies which has been making headlines of late in respect of the drone technologies has yet again been granted a US patent for its invention titled “Directed fragmentation for unmanned airborne vehicles”. According to the granted specification, a fragmentation controller fitted to a drone will take over when a failure in the drone is detected. As the PC Magazine quite funnily puts it, “It’s inevitable that drones will fail in mid-flight, especially if Amazon Prime Air eventually fills the skies with thousands of them every day. At least with this self-destruction feature, you’ll only have a bit of drone hit you on the head rather than the whole drone.”
The abstract text of the US patent 9,828,097 reads as follows:
“Directed fragmentation of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is described. In one embodiment, the UAV includes various components, such one or more motors, batteries, sensors, a housing, casing or shell, and a payload for delivery. Additionally, the UAV includes a flight controller and a fragmentation controller. The flight controller determines a flight path and controls a flight operation of the UAV. During the flight operation, the fragmentation controller develops a fragmentation sequence for one or more of the components based on the flight path, the flight conditions, and terrain topology information, among other factors. The fragmentation controller can also detect a disruption in the flight operation of the UAV and, in response, direct fragmentation of one or more of the components apart from the UAV. In that way, a controlled, directed fragmentation of the UAV can be accomplished upon any disruption to the flight operation of the UAV.”
BananaIP Updates
Mr. Sanjeeth Hegde interviewed by Super Lawyer
Mr. Sanjeeth Hegde, Senior Partner at BananaIP Counsels was recently interviewed by the legal portal SuperLawyer. Mr. Sanjeeth, in his interview spoke on various topics such as the differences between the working environments between the US and India, his role as Managing Partner of the BIP Group, avoiding decision paralysis in career options, importance of mentors in the legal fraternity, key attributes that one must develop in order to excel as an IP lawyer, to name a few.
You may read Mr. Sanjeeth’s complete interview on SuperLawyer.com
Patent Office Updates
Certificate Course on ‘Protection & Commercialization of Intellectual Property Rights’
The Rajiv Gandhi National Institute of Intellectual Property Management (RGNIIPM) and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) are jointly offering an Online Certificate Course on ‘Protection & Commercialization of Intellectual Property Rights.
Briefly, the course modules cover various Intellectual Properties such as Patents, Copyright, Trademark, Geographical Indications (filing, procedure, timelines & protection), the significance of IP and international treaties, ways to commercialize IP, types of agreements management of IP portfolios, and benefits of IP audit.
Among the benefits being offered under the program are – a certificate jointly signed by Office of CGPDTM & Secretary General, FICCI, Internship opportunity with Indian IPO or FICCI and Free participation in all FICCI IP related events and activities.
You may read more about the course on http://www.ficciipcourse.in/ and Ipindia
Government Updates
Time for India to start patenting intellectual inputs – Meenakshi Lekhi
BJP parliamentarian Meenakshi Lekhi, a MP from the New Delhi Lok Sabha constituency, while attending a workshop organised by the Licensing Executives Society (LES) India stated that it was time for India to start patenting intellectual inputs, instead of “over-paying” for them. The BJP MP said – “I think it’s time Indians start patenting. We are looking at a global regime. We patent and let the world pay us. They would be using our knowledge and technology. Let’s use it to our benefit. We have been paying and over-paying for long. Let’s reverse the game by innovating by patenting and having the right and end up benefiting the country,”
This statement by Meenakshi Lekhi comes at a time when the DIPP is organizing its annual stakeholders meeting on the 7th of December, later this week.
General Patent Updates
IIT Bombay pips IIT Madras in patent filings
Indian Institute of Technology Bombay has overtaken its counterpart in Chennai in terms of filing of patent applications for engineering and technology innovation marking a change in the usual trend. According to news reports, an HRD ministry official was quoted as saying “IIT Madras has traditionally been filing the highest number of patent applications, so the drop in the latest data has come as a surprise,” The official was however quick to add that the actual number of patents granted to researchers and innovators from IITs was still very low as compared to other world-renowned technology institutes.
Patent disputes, infringement and settlements
Apple and Qualcomm file fresh patent infringement suits against one another
Apple and Qualcomm are at it once again. As the tech giants continue to be horn locked in a series of patent wars, Qualcomm filed a fresh suit against Apple alleging Apple of using 16 of Qualcomm’s patents in its iPhones. Apple in turn filed a countersuit against Qualcomm Inc, alleging that Qualcomm’s Snapdragon mobile phone chips that power a wide variety of Android-based devices infringe at least 8 of Apple’s patents.
Patent Licensing, Commercialization and Acquisitions
Docomo signs patent licensing agreement with Samsung
Japanese mobile operator NTT Docomo recently announced that it had entered into a patent licensing agreement with the Korean technology major – Samsung Electronics which would be granted access to DOCOMO ‘s Standard Essential Patents covering technologies in the realm of W-CDMA, LTE, LTE-Advanced, etc. The agreement will see the cooperation of both the parties in business and standard setting activities.
European Commission issues guidelines on licensing and litigation of SEP’s
The European Commission (EC) on November 29th, 2017 issued its long-awaited guidelines on litigating and licensing standard-essential patents (SEPs), as part of broader guidelines for intellectual property in the European Union (EU). The EC through this communication (accessible here) has aimed to “set out key principles that foster a balanced, smooth and predictable framework for SEPs”. You may access the communication here.
We will soon be publishing a detailed post discussing this communication by the EC especially in the context of SEP’s and the likely impact of the same in the Indian context.
BananaIP’s Patent Tip of the Week
Foreign Filing Permit in India
Foreign Filing Permit is an important requirement under the Indian Patent law for an applicant residing in India who wishes to file patent applications outside India, directly i.e., without filing a patent application in India first. Section 39 of the Indian Patents Act, 1970 deals with ‘Foreign Filing Permit’ and any Indian resident who contravenes the provision of section 39 is liable under section 40 and section 118 of Indian Patents Act, 1970. According to these provisions, any subsequent applications by an applicant who contravenes section 39 would be deemed abandoned and any patent granted to the applicant would be revoked under section 64. He may also be punished with imprisonment and fine.
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].
