“Interesting patents, Utilizing the Digital Access Service (DAS), Drone patents granted to Samsung and Korea Aerospace University, National PCT roving seminars, 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
“We are surrounded by designs. It’s high time we invest in them, value them and most importantly secure protection over them.” – Jagruti Kumar, Patent & Design Associate, BananaIP Counsels.
Indian Patent Statistics
There has been a noticeable drop in the total number of patent applications published between the 17th of February 2018 and 23rd of February 2018. A total of 616 patent applications have been published, of which, 80 applications account for early publications while 536 applications account for ordinary publications or publications occurring after the 18 month period. A total of 267 applications have been granted between this period which marks an increase of about 13.62% in grants.
Early Publications
| City | Previous Week | This Week | Percentage of change |
| Delhi | 7 | 33 | 371.43% increase |
| Mumbai | 33 | 21 | 36.36% decrease |
| Chennai | 39 | 25 | 35.9% decrease |
| Kolkata | 6 | 1 | 83.33% decrease |
| Total | 85 | 80 | 5.88% decrease |
Ordinary Publications
| City | Previous Week | This Week | Percentage of change |
| Delhi | 276 | 207 | 25% decrease |
| Mumbai | 57 | 55 | 3.51% decrease |
| Chennai | 189 | 161 | 14.81% decrease |
| Kolkata | 96 | 113 | 17.71% increase |
| Total | 618 | 536 | 13.27% decrease |
TOTAL PUBLICATIONS (Previous Week): 703
TOTAL PUBLICATIONS (This Week): 616
Percentage difference: 12.38% decrease
PUBLICATIONS UNDER GRANT
| City | Previous Week | This Week | Percentage of change |
| Delhi | 67 | 86 | 28.36% increase |
| Mumbai | 30 | 50 | 66.67% increase |
| Chennai | 85 | 82 | 3.53% decrease |
| Kolkata | 53 | 49 | 7.55% decrease |
| Total | 235 | 267 | 13.62% increase |
Number of Applications published based on applicant city
Of the total 616 patent applications published in the journal last week, Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Kolkata have contributed a total of 76 applications. The total applications from each of the previously mentioned cities for the past week are as follows – 22 from Bangalore, 16 from Chennai, 15 from Mumbai, 10 from Hyderabad, 8 from Kolkata and 5 from Chennai.
| List of Cities | 1st January 2018 – 23rd February 2018 | 17th February – 23rd February 2018 |
| Delhi | 284 | 8 |
| Mumbai | 145 | 15 |
| Bangalore | 134 | 22 |
| Chennai | 96 | 16 |
| Hyderabad | 85 | 10 |
| Kolkata | 23 | 5 |
Total number of applications published by the Indian Patent Office from the 1st of January 2018 till date: 6002
- Early publications: 555
- Ordinary Publications: 5447
Total number of patents granted by the Indian Patent Office from the 1st of January 2018 till date: 2049
- Delhi – 785
- Mumbai – 289
- Chennai – 653
- Kolkata – 383
First Examination Report (FER) Statistics
A total of 1416 FER’s have been issued last 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 | 472 |
| Mumbai | 243 |
| Chennai | 478 |
| Kolkata | 223 |
| Total | 1416 |
Indian Industrial Designs Statistics
The designs office has registered a total of 208 designs this week. The total designs registered from the 1st of January 2018 till date now adds to a total of 1689 applications.
Total designs registered in the previous Week: 211
Total designs registered this Week: 208
Percentage Difference: 1.42% decrease
Total designs registered from the 1st of January 2018 till date: 1689
Interesting Patents & Designs
In this week’s interesting patents, we have two inventions, both relating to the same technology and originating from the same region but each unique in comparison to the other. While samsung has obtained a patent for a drone that can be controlled by gestures, the Korea Aerospace University has been granted a patent for an invention dubbed as the “Drone-Brella”.
The US patent 9891995 granted to Samsung recently is titled “Flying Display Device” and the abstract text of the patent reads as follows: “A display device includes a display unit, at least a flight unit connected to the display unit, a position information receiving unit obtaining information on a current position of the display device, a sensor unit obtaining information of a user, a flight control unit automatically controlling a flight of the display device, a posture information obtaining unit obtaining posture information of the display device, a main control unit controlling an overall operation of respective components of the display device, a posture correction unit varying an angle of the display device or the display unit, a vibration system, a voice recognition unit, a communication module, an input member transmitting input information to the communication module, a power source unit, an obstacle detection unit, a joint manipulator connecting the at least one flight unit and the display unit, and a connector connecting the display unit and the display device.”(The abstract has been taken from the patent specification as is and has not been corrected for errors.)
The Korean patent KR101825540B granted to the Korean Aerospace University discloses an invention that intends to keep the user dry from rain and safe from the sun’s harmful ulta-violet rays. A rough translation of the abstract of the invention titled “Sunlight or dripping drones” reads as follows: “The sunlight or uncovering drones according to the present invention comprise a frame; The frame is formed inside the frame so that the moving body can be separated from the sunlight or rain. A blocking membrane for blocking off; A plurality of flight devices formed at edge portions of the frame; And a control device for controlling the flight device. In addition, when outdoor events are held on a hot summer day, the elderly people can be easily protected from sunlight, And it is possible to cover the rainy day rain, so you can enjoy outdoor activities without lifting your umbrella by hand. It is possible to improve the efficiency of the work, and it is also possible that the delivery article such as the courier is wetted with rain it can be safely delivered to the destination.” (The abstract has been taken from the patent specification as is and has not been corrected for errors.)
Indian Patent Office updates
National PCT Roving Seminars from 12th March 2018 to 21st March 2018
The office of the CGPDTM is organizing 5 National PCT Roving Seminars in cooperation with WIPO and in association with Industry associations from the 12th of March 2018 to 21st March 2018. The main objective of these seminars is to provide information to Indian inventors and applicants about the recent developments in PCT system as well as the benefits of filing of PCT International Applications through the e PCT portal.
Interested users, stakeholders and applicants can attend the seminars free of charge at any of the 5 locations where the seminar is being conducted. Click here to view the official notification.
International Patent Update
JPO to review Standard Essential Patents (SEP’s)
IAM blog has reported that the Japanese Patent Office recently launched a new service that will help the JPO determine the validity of patents that have been declared standards essential in Japan. SEP’s have come to the world’s center stage in recent times. The Ericsson – Micromax series of wars fought right here in India to the Apple – Qualcomm wars across China, US and Europe, have forced countries to work on regulating SEP’s like never before. The European Commission in fact only recently issued draft guidelines calling for greater scrutiny on SEP essentiality.
USPTO to update eMod Project to Improve E-Filing and Managing Patent Applications
The USPTO has announced that it would be implementing the updates to the eCommerce Modernization (eMod) project in the next few weeks. The eMod intends to provide users with a new interface, a Patent Center, that combines EFS-Web and PAIR into a single interface for filing and managing patent applications, among other features.
BananaIP’s Patent / Design Tip of the Week
Utilizing the Digital Access Service (DAS)
The WIPO Digital Access Service (DAS) is an electronic system that allows priority documents and similar documents to be securely exchanged between participating intellectual property (IP) offices. Traditionally, applicants have been obliged to request certified paper copies of documents from one office and then submit those documents to other offices. DAS allows applicants to simply request the first office (known as the Depositing Office or Office of First Filing) to make priority documents available to the system and then to request other offices (known as the Accessing Offices or Offices of Second Filing) to retrieve those documents via the service. India recently became part of the DAS system on the 31st of January 2018.
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].
