AI named as inventor in patent, AI to be inducted in Patent Office’s operations, 3M versus Saint-Gobain and more

“Patent News Bulletin: Indian Patent Statistics, Indian Design Statistics, Interesting Inventions, Artificial Intelligence based automated music composing model, Alert system to prevent smuggling of valuable trees,  IPO clarifies on submission of Declaration under Rule 14.17 via ePCT, AI to be inducted in Patent Office’s operations, 3M settles patent lawsuit with Saint-Gobain, Vodafone faces patent infringement suit in Europe, China to amend patent law, USPTO proposes hike in patent fees, AI named as inventor in patent and more” presented to you by the Patent attorneys and experts of BananaIP Counsels, India’s leading Patent Firm.

Quote of the Week

“Anyone who invents is an inventor, ergo an AI system that invents must also be considered an inventor” – Gaurav Mishra, BananaIP Counsels.

Indian Patent Statistics

A total of 1400 patent applications have been published in the 31st issue of the Patent Journal, 2019. Out of the 1400 applications published in the journal, 134 applications account for early publications while 1266 applications account for ordinary publications or publications occurring after the 18 – month period. A total of 646 applications have been granted last week as compared to 434 grants in the week preceding the last thereby marking an increase of about 48.84%.

Early Publications

City Previous Week This Week Percentage of change
Delhi 23 5 78.26% decrease
Mumbai 28 2 92.85% decrease
Chennai 14 127 807.14% increase
Kolkata 5 __
Total 70 134 91.42% decrease

Ordinary Publications

City Previous Week This Week Percentage of change
Delhi 584 628 7.53% increase
Mumbai 230 373 62.17% increase
Chennai 228 233 2.19% decrease
Kolkata 24 42 75% increase
Total 1066 1266 18.76% increase

TOTAL PUBLICATIONS (Previous Week): 1136

TOTAL PUBLICATIONS (This Week): 1400

Percentage difference: 23.23% increase

First Examination Report (FER) Statistics

A total of 1711 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 666
Mumbai 282
Chennai 553
Kolkata 210
Total 1711

Publications under Grant

City Previous Week This Week Percentage of change
Delhi 202 223 10.39% increase
Mumbai 43 97 125.58% increase
Chennai 125 235 88% increase
Kolkata 64 91 42.18% increase
Total 434 646 48.84% increase

Number of Applications published based on ‘Applicant City’

Of the total 1261 patent applications published in the journal last week, Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Kolkata have contributed a total of 131 applications. The total applications from each of the previously mentioned cities are as follows – 41 applications from Chennai, 30 applications from Bangalore, 27 applications from Delhi, 19 applications from Hyderabad, 9 applications from Mumbai and 5 applications from Kolkata.

List of Cities 1st January 2019 to 2nd August 2019 26th July 2019 to 2nd August 2019
Delhi 759 27
Mumbai 433 9
Bangalore 700 30
Chennai 667 41
Hyderabad 279 19
Kolkata 168 5

Patent statistics summary (1st January 2019 –till date)

Total early publications 2846
Total ordinary publications 25374
Total applications published 28220
Total grants in Delhi 4763
Total grants in Mumbai 1837
Total grants in Chennai 4215
Total grants in Kolkata 2095
Total Grants 12910
Total applications examined 49133

Indian Industrial Design Statistics

The designs office has registered a total of 502 designs this week. The total designs registered from the 1st of January 2019 till date now adds to a total of 9280 applications.

  • Total designs registered in the previous Week: 501
  • Total designs registered this Week: 502

Total designs registered from the 1st of January 2019 till date: 9280

Interesting Inventions

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE BASED AUTOMATED MUSIC COMPOSING MODEL

Applicant – MVGR College of Engineering (Autonomous)

Patent Application No.  – 201941022847 A

Abstract – “Artificial Intelligence Based Automated Music Composing Model The proposed disclosure provides an automated music composing model that composes tunes automatically based on previous records more accurately and efficiently through artificial intelligence and neural networks. The automated composing model comprises a parameter input means, an analyzing means, a weight assigning means, a beat predicting means, a comparing means, a value obtaining means and a tune generating means. The model predicts the attributes through machine learning algorithms that are used to generate a song or tune based on previous records. The music composing model allows to select major attributes such as theme of the movie, the movie director, the current trend, cast of the movie, audience expectations that are required. Therefore, the proposed disclosure helps in decreasing the time to a minimal level to create a music album and preserves the music composer™s benchmark and increase the level of a particular industry.”(This abstract has been provided as is and has not been corrected for errors.)

ALERT SYSTEM TO PREVENT SMUGGLING OF VALUABLE TREES

Applicant – Y. NARASIMHA REDDY

Patent Application No. – 201941028054 A

Abstract“ALERT SYSTEM TO PREVENT SMUGGLING OF VALUABLE TREES Exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure are directed towards a smart alert system and method for proactive monitoring of valuable trees and preventing the tree smuggling, comprising: a tree unit; a sub-server unit; and a forest unit; wherein the tree unit comprises of a power source 212, an array of sensors , RFID receiver 206, a first processing device 214, GPS 208, and a Zigbee transmitter 210; wherein the sub-server unit comprises of a power source, GPS 218, a Zigbee receiver 220, a GSM 224, and a second processing device 230; wherein the forest unit comprises of a computing device 106a. FIG.1”(This abstract has been provided as is and has not been corrected for errors.)

Indian Patent News

IPO clarifies on submission of Declaration under Rule 14.17 via ePCT

The Indian patent office (IPO) through the public notice date July 30, 2019 has clarified that applicants filing International Applications under the PCT at IPO as Receiving Office (RO) need not submit declarations with inked signatures if string signatures or text signatures have already been submitted at the time of filing the declaration. The public notice may be viewed here.

AI to be inducted in Patent Office’s operations

The Office of the Controller General of Patents, Designs & Trademark has floated a tender notice “Inviting a Request for Proposal (RFP) for Making use of Artificial Intelligence in Patent Processing system of IPO”. According to the tender, the Office of CGPDTM intends to make use of Artificial Intelligence in Patent Processing system of IPO in keeping with the objectives laid down under the National IPR Policy launched by the Government of India on 12th May 2016.

Patent Infringement/ Settlement / Licensing / Commercialization

3M settles patent lawsuit with Saint-Gobain

3M Co., the American multinational conglomerate operating in the fields of industry, worker safety, health care, and consumer goods has settled its patent-infringement lawsuit against Saint-Gobain Abrasives Inc. 3M accused Saint-Gobain’s Norton Paint System (NPS) of violating 3M’s patents relating to paint-preparation technology. The terms of the settlement have not been disclosed as yet.

Vodafone faces patent infringement suit in Europe

A Belgium-based intellectual property (IP) management company called IPCom has filed a patent infringement suit against Vodafone in the High Court of England and Wales. The suit concerning patent claims covering 4G network technology and the manner in which mobile phones access the LTE network will be heard by the High Court of England and Wales later this year.

International Patent News

China to amend patent law

According to The Straits Times.com, it looks like China is all set to amend its patent law this year in order to address criticism from the United States of inadequate intellectual property protection and also help stimulate innovation domestically. This will be fourth amendment to the law if the Chinese administration proceeds with the idea.

USPTO proposes hike in patent fees

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has proposed to set or adjust patent fees and hike the fees by an average of 20 to 25%. The maintenance fees on the other hand may be hiked by as much as 200%. While the basic filing fee for a utility application currently ranges from $300  for a large entity  to $75 for a micro entity , at the proposed fee hike large entities will pay $320 and micro entities will pay $80. The complete and detailed proposal may be accessed here.

AI named as inventor in patent

In what is being reported as a landmark challenge to the international patents regime, a band of legal experts has called on authorities in the US and EU to recognize the “inventorship” of artificial intelligence. In what is invariably going to become a highly debated and contentious issue, Ryan Abbott, a professor of law and health sciences at the University of Surrey has submitted applications to the US Patent and Trademark Office, the European Patent Office, and the UK Intellectual Property Office naming an AI nicknamed DABUS as an inventor of two technologies.  This is certainly one of the most interesting questions to plague us in recent times.

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.

If you have any questions, or need any clarifications, please feel free to write to [email protected]

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.

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