“Merry Christmas, Christmas patents, Santa Drones, Seminar on Innovation and IP, MSF v. Gilead, Fitness tracker patent dispute, Nokia and Huawei patent license agreement, GCC payment system becomes operational, Prosecution History Estoppel, 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 Fact of the Week
In the mid-1800s France gave out an important patent in photography for free as a gift to the world except for Britain. They were made to pay.
Fact Source – Here
Indian Patent Statistics
There has been a further fall in the total number of patent applications that have been published this week by the Indian Patent Office. Only 900 patent applications have been published this week as opposed to 985 applications published last week. Of the 900 patent applications, 99 applications account for early publications while 801 applications are ordinary publications or publications occurring after the 18 month period. Grants on the contrary have increased this week by 28.57%
Early Publications
| City | Previous Week | This Week | Percentage of change |
| Delhi | 9 | 25 | 177.78% increase |
| Mumbai | 1 | 44 | 4300% increase |
| Chennai | 34 | 30 | 870.59% increase |
| Kolkata | 11 | 0 | 100% decrease |
| Total | 55 | 99 | 80% increase |
Ordinary Publications
| City | Previous Week | This Week | Percentage of change |
| Delhi | 564 | 444 | 21.28% decrease |
| Mumbai | 33 | 131 | 296.97% increase |
| Chennai | 274 | 214 | 21.9% decrease |
| Kolkata | 59 | 12 | 79.66% decrease |
| Total | 930 | 801 | 13.87% decrease |
TOTAL PUBLICATIONS (Previous Week): 985
TOTAL PUBLICATIONS (This Week): 900
Percentage difference: 8.63% decrease
PUBLICATIONS UNDER GRANT
| City | Previous Week | This Week | Percentage of change |
| Delhi | 81 | 108 | 33.33% increase |
| Mumbai | 12 | 19 | 58.33% increase |
| Chennai | 80 | 110 | 37.5% increase |
| Kolkata | 58 | 60 | 3.45% increase |
| Total | 231 | 297 | 28.57% increase |
Number of Applications published based on applicant city
Of the total 900 patent applications published this week, Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Chennai, and Hyderabad have contributed a total of 107 applications. The total applications from each of the previously mentioned cities are as follows – 28 from Mumbai, 26 from Bangalore, 30 from Chennai, 17 from Hyderabad and 6 from Kolkata. On a en extremely surprising note there are haven’t been any applications from Delhi to add to the tally this week.
| List of Cities | 1st January 2017 – till date | 16th December 2017 to 22nd December 2017 |
| Mumbai | 1598 | 28 |
| Bangalore | 1466 | 26 |
| Delhi | 856 | 0 |
| Chennai | 953 | 30 |
| Hyderabad | 571 | 17 |
| Kolkata | 417 | 6 |
Total number of applications published by the Indian Patent Office from the 1st of January 2017 till 22nd December 2017: 37554
- Early publications: 3080
- Ordinary Publications: 34474
Total number of patents granted by the Indian Patent Office from the 1st of January 2017 till 22nd December 2017: 13176
- Delhi – 5187
- Mumbai – 1294
- Chennai – 4269
- Kolkata – 2426
First Examination Report (FER) Statistics
A total of 1112 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 | 375 |
| Mumbai | 154 |
| Chennai | 433 |
| Kolkata | 150 |
| Total | 1112 |
Indian Industrial Designs Statistics
The designs office at Kolkata has registered a total of 230 designs this week. This marks an increase of about 0.87% from 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 9694 applications.
Total designs registered in the previous Week: 230
Total designs registered this Week: 232
Percentage Difference: 0.87% increase
Total designs registered from the 1st of January 2017 till date: 9694
Interesting Patents & Designs
Merry Christmas everyone! It’s Christmas day finally and we obviously had to keep our promise of bringing to you the most interesting patents and designs from across the world based on the theme of Christmas.
Here we go…
Patent Application 1 – Santa Claus toy welcoming method and device thereof
How about leaving the welcoming of guests to a robotic Santa? Sounds odd? Well, not according to this Chinese patent. The patent CN102125761 B discloses a Santa toy capable of welcoming guests with just about the same warmth as humans.
The abstract text of the patent reads as follows: “The invention discloses a Santa Claus toy welcoming method. The method comprises the following steps of: 1) setting an outdoor Santa Claus toy; and 2) setting an indoor Santa Claus toy, connecting the indoor Santa Claus toy and the outdoor Santa Claus toy through a wireless network, and performing mutual communication. The invention also discloses a device for implementing the method. The welcoming action and the shape can be effectively combined by the method, so the action is lively and the figure is vivid; the outdoor Santa Claus toy and the indoor Santa Claus toy are connected by adopting the wireless network and communicated, so the welcoming state effect can be automatically changed, the welcoming effect is good, the design is humanized and energy conservation is obvious; the device provided by the invention has coordinated and rich actions, reveals good interestingness, effectively increases the welcoming atmosphere, simultaneously has the monitoring function, and has reasonable whole structure and reliable performance; and in addition, the Santa Claus toys can be replaced by adopting other shapes such as dolls, decorative lamps and the like with decoration, so the application range is wide. (The abstract has been taken from the patent specification as is and has not been corrected for errors.)
Patent Application 2 – Lighted Gift Box
Christmas is all about the spirit of giving! Isn’t it? Now, if intend to gift someone something, let’s just do it with some style, shall we? You could consider buying the products claimed in the US patent application US 14/790,003.
The abstract text of the patent application reads as follows: “A gift presentation and gift delivery system is disclosed. It is a gift box with illuminated decorative patterns on the box. The gift box is illuminated with battery-operated LED lights in various colors and patterns to give an aesthetic look to the gift box. This is used in combination with customized 2D and/or 3D artwork for a particular occasion and/or event.” (The abstract has been taken from the patent specification as is and has not been corrected for errors.)
The image below shows the actual product claimed by this patent application.
Patent Application 3 – Christmas Themed Search and Find Game
We absolutely had to include this one! This US patent is clearly soaked in the yuletide spirit.
Abstract text of the US patent application 14/789,822: “A holiday search and find game is provided having a plurality of diversified, tangible and movable holiday thematic objects, a plurality of cards, a random chance device, and a timing device. The plurality of thematic objects is arranged for disbursement about a playing environment. The plurality of cards each have an indication of at least one of the thematic objects. The random chance device is provided for randomly selecting occurrence of a category of a next event comprising: a) selection of a card from at least one category of cards, and b) at least one of: 1) a number of players, and 2) an identity of one or more players participating in the next event. The timing device establishes a predetermined time period in which to locate and identify one of the thematic objects as indicated on a selected one of the plurality of cards. A method is also provided.” (The abstract has been taken from the patent specification as is and has not been corrected for errors.)
Design 1
Depicting the nativity scene is a customary tradition in most Christian households. The design patent of US D564936 S1, however takes this a step ahead by introducing Santa Claus into it. See image below.
Design 2
How about having a snowman inside your house? just that he would be made of twigs and leaves. Confused? Worry not. The US design patent USD487878 S1 is basically a Snowman shaped Christmas tree. Add it, light it and decorate it just like the good old Christmas tree.
Design 3
Santa drones? Now that has to be the coolest design we have for the day! US Design patent D800,603 claims a santa drone complete with Santa riding the reindeer sleigh. The image of the santa drone is shown below.
Patent Seminars, Conclaves, Conferences
GIPC to hold three-day program on ‘Innovation and Intellectual Property’
GIPC or Global Intellectual Property Convention will be hosting a three-day conference on Innovation and Intellectual Property from January 23rd to 25th, 2018 at the Sheraton Grand, Bangalore. The program aims to cover interesting topics such as Evolution of IP in context of Driverless Cars, Internet of Things (IoT), digitization, Artificial Intelligence (AI), CRISPR and Gene Editing, Competition Law, 3D Printing and Commercialization and Valuation of IP.
The inaugural session will include a welcome address by Mr. Naresh Prasad, Assistant Director General of WIPO and the following plenary and technical sessions will include speakers from Siemens, TCS, Microsoft, ITC, Wipro, Thyssenkrupp, Airbus, Philips, Novartis among a host of other distinguished speakers.
For further details on the conference, please click here.
Patent disputes, Infringement and settlements
MSF Challenges Gilead’s patent application in China
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) or Doctors without Borders as the organization is otherwise called has filed a petition with the China State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) opposing the Gilead’s patent application for its hepatitis C drug, sofosbuvir and velpatasvir. The pills were recently launched in China at the cost of $100/pill.
MSF had earlier challenged the grant of the same patent in India last year. After initially rejecting Gilead’s patent application, the patent office later however proceeded to grant the patent.
Huawei and Nokia sign patent license agreement
Nokia has recently announced that it has entered into a multi-year patent license agreement with Huawei for an unspecified number of years. The chief legal officer at Nokia was quoted as stating that it is often a practice with Nokia that the details of these agreements are hardly ever revealed to the public, as the consumer doesn’t typically need to be bothered with them in the first place.
Nokia has previously entered into similar agreements earlier with the likes of HMD Global and Xiaomi. It also lodged a $2 billion victory against Apple recently and other companies want to avoid these types of legal disputes with Nokia.
Technicolor exiting patent licensing business
Media and entertainment technology specialist Technicolor has announced that it would be suspending its commercial patent licensing business. This, the organization said, is in line with its objective to simplify the Group’s structure and allocate its capital and resources to its operating businesses. Technicolor was most recently involved in a patent dispute with Samsung Electronics, which it now seems to have settled.
Blackbird and Garmin settle ‘Fitness Tracker’ patent dispute
Blackbird Technologies, a patent licensing company known for its prolific filing of infringement lawsuits has announced that it had reached a settlement in its suit against Garmin USA Inc. in Delaware federal court. The company had filed a suit against Garmin, a well known manufacturer of fitness trackers in August 2016 claiming that Garmin’s fitness trackers infringed on the company’s pedometer patents. The terms of the settlement have not been made public yet.
International Patent & Design Updates
GCC patent office completes development of electronic payment system
The GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) Patent Office based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia has finally completed the development of electronic payment mechanisms and data transfer between electronic systems. This is significant in light of the fact that the payment mechanisms for regional patent filings in the GCC were earlier a major obstacle for applicants, who would have to contact attorneys based in the region to make the payments on behalf of the applicants.
The States of United Arab Emirates, Kingdom of Bahrain, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Sultanate of Oman, State of Qatar, and State of Kuwait jointly form the GCC and applicant willing to file a regional patent may file it with the GCC patent office. Certificates of Patents granted by the GCC Patent Office secure legal protection of the inventor’s rights in all the Member States of the GCC.
BananaIP’s Patent Tip of the Week
Prosecution History Estoppel
Prosecution history estoppel, also known as file-wrapper estoppel, is a term used to indicate that a person who has filed a patent application, and then makes narrowing amendments to the application to accommodate the patent law, may be precluded from invoking the doctrine of equivalents to broaden the scope of their claims to cover subject matter ceded by the amendments.
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].
