“Patent News Bulletin: Quote of the Week, Indian Patent Statistics, First Examination Report (FER) Statistics, Indian Industrial Design Statistics, 3M settles patent infringement suit with Tovis Co. Ltd and Scientific Games Corp., IP5 heads launch New Emerging Technologies and AI taskforce, European Patent Office offers exceptional online courses to IP enthusiasts, Intellectual Property Office of Singapore announces IPIII initiative and other news updates” is presented to you by the Patent attorneys and experts of BananaIP Counsels, India’s leading Patent Firm.
Quote of the Week
“Patent enforcement insurance will go a long way in enhancing the value of patents.”- Dr. Kalyan C. Kankanala, BananaIP Counsels.
Indian Patent Statistics
A total of 756 patent applications have been published in the 24th issue of the Patent Journal, 2019. Out of the 756 applications published in the journal, 122 applications account for early publications while 634 applications account for ordinary publications or publications occurring after the 18 – month period. A total of 284 applications have been granted last week as compared to 269 grants in the week preceding the last thereby marking an increase of about 5.57%.
Early Publications
| City | Previous Week | This Week | Percentage of change |
| Delhi | 7 | 17 | 142.85% increase |
| Mumbai | 55 | 6 | 89.09% decrease |
| Chennai | 54 | 90 | 66.66% increase |
| Kolkata | 4 | 9 | 125% increase |
| Total | 120 | 122 | 1.66% increase |
Ordinary Publications
| City | Previous Week | This Week | Percentage of change |
| Delhi | 326 | 317 | 2.76% decrease |
| Mumbai | 67 | 87 | 29.85% increase |
| Chennai | 98 | 207 | 111.22% increase |
| Kolkata | 14 | 23 | 64.28% increase |
| Total | 505 | 634 | 25.54% increase |
TOTAL PUBLICATIONS (Previous Week): 625
TOTAL PUBLICATIONS (This Week): 756
Percentage difference: 20.96% increase
First Examination Report (FER) Statistics
A total of 650 FER’s have been issued last week. Applicants and their agents can check if any of their patent applications have been examined by referring to the journal available here.
| City | No. of FER Issued |
| Delhi | 285 |
| Mumbai | 104 |
| Chennai | 186 |
| Kolkata | 75 |
| Total | 650 |
PUBLICATIONS UNDER GRANT
| City | Previous Week | This Week | Percentage of change |
| Delhi | 103 | 109 | 5.82% increase |
| Mumbai | 43 | 49 | 13.95% increase |
| Chennai | 84 | 73 | 13.09% decrease |
| Kolkata | 39 | 53 | 35.89% increase |
| Total | 269 | 284 | 5.57% increase |
Number of Applications published based on applicant city
Of the total 756 patent applications published in the journal last week, Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Kolkata have contributed a total of 101 applications. The total applications from each of the previously mentioned cities are as follows – 27 applications from Delhi, 20 applications from Bangalore, 12 applications from Chennai, 12 applications from Hyderabad, 7 applications from Kolkata and 23 applications from Mumbai.
| List of Cities | 1st January 2019 to 14th June 2019 | 7th June 2019 – 14th June 2019 |
| Delhi | 586 | 27 |
| Mumbai | 322 | 23 |
| Bangalore | 619 | 20 |
| Chennai | 582 | 12 |
| Hyderabad | 210 | 12 |
| Kolkata | 135 | 7 |
Total number of applications published by the Indian Patent Office from the 1st of January 2019 till date: 19322
- Early publications: 2117
- Ordinary Publications: 17205
Total number of patents granted by the Indian Patent Office from the 1st of January 2019 till date: 8920
- Delhi – 3213
- Mumbai – 1274
- Chennai – 2923
- Kolkata – 1510
Indian Industrial Design Statistics
The designs office has registered a total of 201 designs this week. The total designs registered from the 1st of January 2019 till date now adds to a total of 6634 applications.
Total designs registered in the previous Week: 232
Total designs registered this Week: 201
Percentage Difference: 13.36% decrease
Total designs registered from the 1st of January 2019 till date: 6634
Patent / Design Infringements, Disputes, Licensing and Settlement
3M settles patent infringement suit with Tovis Co. Ltd and Scientific Games Corp.
3M has reportedly settled a patent infringement dispute with South Korea based Tovis Co. Ltd, along with its subsidiary Tovis North America and Scientific Games Corp. According to the suit instituted by 3M in the District Court of Las Vegas, USA, the company had alleged the infringement of eight patents. The patents at issue primarily provided protection to 3M’s Metal Mesh Conductor technology which is most commonly across a wide range on touch screen sensors. The patents namely – 8,179,381; 9,823,786; 8,274,494; 8,704,799; 10,078,408; 10,101,868; 10,114,516; and 10,126,90 were used by Tovis in its touch display products and Scientific Games used the inventions in its gaming machines. According to reports, the companies have settled their dispute, however, the terms of the settlement agreement remain undisclosed. Vice President and General Manager of 3M said “3M is encouraged to have been able to settle this matter. 3M invests substantially in research and development to create innovative products for our customers. We will continue to defend our intellectual property to protect those investments against unauthorized use and infringement by metal mesh manufacturers, touch panel integrators, and original equipment manufacturers.”
International Patent News
IP5 heads launch New Emerging Technologies and AI taskforce
On June 13th 2019, the heads of the five largest patent offices in the world held their annual meeting in Incheon, Korea. The five patent offices, commonly known as the IP5 consist of the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO), European Patent Office (EPO), Japan Patent Office (JPO), China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) and United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). These offices are said to handle over 85% of the world’s patent applications. Apart from the five heads of the IP5, the meeting was attended by the Director of WIPO, Francis Gurry and chaired by KIPO Commissioner, Park Wonjoo. Representatives of the IP5 held discussions on various subjects including classification of emerging technologies, enhanced work sharing and harmonization of patent practices between the Office’s. Talks were also held in order to bring improvement to the Global Dossier services. The highlight of the event was the decision to collaborate with each other in order to launch a New Emerging Technologies and AI Taskforce that’s aims to establish initiatives to harness global technological developments. The next Annual meeting of the IP5 will take place in 2020 at CNIPA. Click here for more information on the IP5.
European Patent Office offers exceptional online courses to IP enthusiasts
EUIPO, in collaboration with the EPO is currently offering an online course on “Introduction to the European Patent System.” Participants will begin their learning with a basic introduction to the important legal and procedural aspects of patents. As this is a basic introductory course, it will lay the foundation for more complex modules that are to come. The course contains three theory sections namely – An Introduction to the patent system, Patentability criteria at the EPO and a Consolidation part that examines the understanding the modules. The course, launched on 10th June, 2019 will be taught in English for a duration of 480 minutes. A certificate will be issued by the EPO on successfully scoring 70%. Apart from the aforementioned course, EPO offers various other courses, Webinars and access to events like –
- Business use of Patent Information
- Patenting Artificial Intelligence
- Patenting Blockchain
- Compulsory Licensing in Europe
- Catalogue of differing practices (Offered by five IP offices)
Read more about the course here.
Intellectual Property Office of Singapore announces IPIII initiative
The Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) announced the launch of an initiative called the Intellectual Property Insurance Initiative for Innovators (IPIII). The initiative aims to support innovative enterprises by providing insurance coverage for all legal expenses incurred from intellectual property proceedings. Ong Ye Kung, the Minister of Education in Singapore, announced the beginning of the IPIII, last week at the Singapore Bicentennial 1819-2019. IPIII will allow innovators and enterprises with a Patent, Trademark and Industrial Design to sign up for the insurance in order to redeem legal costs at the time of enforcing their rights against infringement suits. The Minister of education said “The new insurance initiative is timely in a global economy increasingly powered by the new currency of intangible assets. Cutting edge initiatives such as IP insurance will anchor Singapore’s position as a financial and legal hub, and support our innovators and entrepreneurs as they expand into overseas markets with their IP.”
Authored and compiled by Vibha Amarnath & Gaurav Mishra
About BIP’s Patent Attorneys
The patent news bulletin is brought to you by the patent division of BananaIP Counsels, a top patent and IP firm in India. 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, to name a few. The patent attorneys at BIP have strong technical and legal expertise in areas such as IT/Software, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning, Data Analytics, Electronics and Telecommunication, Mechanical, Automotive, Green Energy, Traditional Medicine and Bio/Pharma domains. The firm is a first choice for clients looking for support in patent filing, prosecution, management and strategy in India, and across the world.
This weekly patent news bulletin 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.
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Disclaimer: Kindly note that the news bulletin has been put together from different sources, primary and secondary, and BananaIP’s reporters may not have verified all the news published in the bulletin. You may write to [email protected] for corrections and take down.
