“Patent Statistics, Interesting Patents, Tracking Parabolic Solar Cooker System, Low Cost Smart Spectacle Vibration Device For Visually Impaired People, See-Through Display Glasses For Viewing 3d Multimedia, Compositions Against Cat Allergy, Sports Training Bat, Gilead’s Hep C drug challenged, Apple sued over ‘DND’ feature, LG Electronics sues Wiko for patent infringement, WIPO worried over slump in Green Energy patenting, What cannot be patented?, 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
“The true strength of an invention lies in the claims of the patent application” – Gaurav Mishra, IP Manager – Strategic Engagement, BananaIP (BIP) Counsels.
Indian Patent Statistics
A total of 826 patent applications have been published in the 28th issue of the patent journal. Out of the 826 applications, 69 applications account for early publications while 757 applications account for ordinary publications or publications occurring after the 18 month period. A total of 235 applications have been granted this week thereby marking a sharp decrease of about 32.86% in grants compared to the previous week.
Early Publications
| City | Previous Week | This Week | Percentage of change |
| Delhi | 10 | 19 | 90% increase |
| Mumbai | 20 | 9 | 55% decrease |
| Chennai | 24 | 23 | 4.17% decrease |
| Kolkata | 1 | 18 | 1700% increase |
| Total | 55 | 69 | 25.45% increase |
Ordinary Publications
| City | Previous Week | This Week | Percentage of change |
| Delhi | 316 | 393 | 24.37% increase |
| Mumbai | 60 | 91 | 51.67% increase |
| Chennai | 267 | 195 | 26.97% decrease |
| Kolkata | 24 | 78 | 225% increase |
| Total | 667 | 757 | 13.49% increase |
TOTAL PUBLICATIONS (Previous Week): 722
TOTAL PUBLICATIONS (This Week): 826
Percentage difference: 14.4% increase
First Examination Report (FER) Statistics
A total of 1254 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 | 437 |
| Mumbai | 155 |
| Chennai | 442 |
| Kolkata | 220 |
| Total | 1254 |
PUBLICATIONS UNDER GRANT
| City | Previous Week | This Week | Percentage of change |
| Delhi | 145 | 77 | 46.9% decrease |
| Mumbai | 43 | 32 | 25.58% decrease |
| Chennai | 91 | 71 | 21.98% decrease |
| Kolkata | 71 | 55 | 26.67% decrease |
| Total | 350 | 235 | 32.86% decrease |
Number of Applications published based on applicant city
Of the total 826 patent applications published in the journal last week, Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Kolkata have contributed a total of 68 applications. The total applications from each of the previously mentioned cities are as follows – 15 applications each from Bangalore and Chennai, 14 from Delhi, 13 from Mumbai, 6 from Hyderabad and 5 from Kolkata.
| List of Cities | 1st January 2018 – 13th July 2018 | 7th July 2018 – 13th July 2018 |
| Delhi | 653 | 14 |
| Mumbai | 475 | 13 |
| Bangalore | 554 | 15 |
| Chennai | 338 | 15 |
| Hyderabad | 275 | 6 |
| Kolkata | 124 | 5 |
Total number of applications published by the Indian Patent Office from the 1st of January 2018 till date: 21123
- Early publications: 1945
- Ordinary Publications: 19178
Total number of patents granted by the Indian Patent Office from the 1st of January 2018 till date: 7654
- Delhi – 2891
- Mumbai – 897
- Chennai – 2354
- Kolkata – 1512
Indian Industrial Designs Statistics
The designs office has registered a total of 120 designs this week. The total designs registered from the 1st of January 2018 till date now adds to a total of 5042 applications.
Total designs registered in the previous Week: 140
Total designs registered this Week: 120
Percentage Difference: 14.29% decrease
Total designs registered from the 1st of January 2018 till date: 5042
Interesting Patents
Patent Application 1
Title: TRACKING PARABOLIC SOLAR COOKER SYSTEM
Applicant: Dr. Ashish Nayyar et al.
Application No.: 201811023286
Abstract: “Disclosed is a tracking parabolic solar cooker system. The tracking parabolic solar cooker system comprises light dependent resistors (LDRs), micro-controller unit, stepper motors, solar panels, a power unit, lead screw, ball bearing, and coupler. The LDRs sense the intensity of sunlight received on the outer surface of the LDRs. The micro-controller unit configured with LDRs to compute the intensity of the sunlight to determine a direction of the sunlight. Then the micro-controller unit initiates an actuation signal. The micro-controller unit stores a plurality of instructions pertaining to detection of the direction of the sunlight. The stepper motors are configured with the micro-controller unit to receive the actuation signal. The stepper motors hold a plurality of solar panels and utilize the received actuation signal to position the solar panels in a way to receive the sunlight from the direction having a maximum computed intensity of the sunlight.” (The abstract text has been taken as is and has not been corrected for errors)
Patent Application 2
Title: LOW COST SMART SPECTACLE VIBRATION DEVICE FOR VISUALLY IMPAIRED PEOPLE
Applicant: Dr. S. SARAVANAN et al.
Application No.: 201841025036
Abstract: “Low cost smart vibrating device is placed on the spectacle for safety of the visually impaired people and it”s specially made to alert the obstacle of unknown surroundings. Obstacles are detected using ultrasonic transmitter and receiver and information”s are directly passes to arduino controller. Alert signals are communicated to the vibrator and buzzer, when obstacles are detected. The vibrator and buzzer are used for communicate the obstacle aiert signal to the visually impaired people. In this, low cost, portable and wearable device is suitable for an ordinary visually impaired people.” (The abstract text has been taken as is and has not been corrected for errors)
Patent Application 3
Title: SEE-THROUGH DISPLAY GLASSES FOR VIEWING 3D MULTIMEDIA
Applicant: Darwin Hu
Application No.: 201814000996
Abstract: “Architecture and designs of wearable devices for viewing multimedia in 3D are described. According to one aspect of the present invention, a display device is made in form of a pair of glasses. A separate enclosure is provided to generate content for display on the glasses. The content is optically picked up by an optical cable and transported by one or more optical fibers in the optical cable to the glasses, where an image polarizer receives the content and produces an alternating polarized content sequence. An optical cube is provided to decouple the alternating polarized content sequence into two orthogonally polarized image sequences are respectively projected onto two lenses.” (The abstract text has been taken as is and has not been corrected for errors)
Patent Application 4
Title: COMPOSITIONS AGAINST CAT ALLERGY
Applicant: UNIVERSITÄT ZÜRICH
Application No.: 201817006630
Abstract: “The present invention relates to the use of a composition in a method of reducing the allergenicity of a cat. Moreover, the present invention relates to the use of a composition in a method of reducing the allergenicity of a cat for a human exposed to the cat. Furthermore, the present invention relates to compositions comprising a virus-like particle (VLP) and at least one Fel d1 protein. The compositions of the invention induce efficient immune responses, in particular antibody responses, in cats and are useful for the treatment and/or prevention of cat allergy.” (The abstract text has been taken as is and has not been corrected for errors)
Patent Application 5
Title: SPORTS TRAINING BAT
Applicant: PEMMARAAJU VENKATA PARTHASARADHI
Application No.: 201741001142
Abstract: “The problem to be solved is to provide a practice sports bat (10) for a ball game sports such that when the batsman hits the ball with the bat (10), the batsman can receive feedback to understand exactly where the ball hits the bat and thereby improve his performance, and the problem is solved in the present invention by providing a sports bat (10) with a body (40) including a front striking surface (50) connected with flexible portion (70) at its longitudinal periphery, and flexible portion includes plurality of slits (74) structured at an angle from the longitudinal axis of the body (40) that partitions flexible portion (70) into plurality of flaps (74), which when hit by a ball deforms to provide feedback to the batsman that the ball has not been middled properly. Fig. 1a is the representative figure.” (The abstract text has been taken as is and has not been corrected for errors)
Indian Patent Updates
Patent Agent Examination Registration – 2018
Registration for the Patent Agent Examination 2018 will begin at 12 PM from the 17th of July 2018 onwards. Candidates interested in taking up the examination must register themselves on www.ipindia.nic.in
Gilead’s Hep C drug challenged
The Delhi Network of Positive People (DNP+) has filed an opposition against two of Gilead’s patent applications relating to the drug – Sofosbuvir and Velpatasvir which are used in the treatment of hepatitis-C infections. The DNP+ has said that Gilead had launched sofosbuvir/ velpatasvir in the US in 2016 at over $74,000 for a 12-week regimen. The international humanitarian agency Medicins Sans Frontieres (MSF) has expressed support to the patent oppositions filed by DNP+ as the agency believes that the secondary patent claims filed by Gilead, if granted in India, will prove to be a critical barrier to supplying affordable drugs to a number of least developed and middle income countries.
Patent /Design Infringements, Disputes, Licensing and Settlements.
Apple sued over ‘DND’ feature
Apple has been slapped with a lawsuit from tech startup SMTM for an alleged patent infringement of the ‘Do Not Disturb While Driving’ iPhone feature. A patent for the technology in question was originally filed in 2013 and approved by the USPTO in 2015. SMTM Technology later purchased the patent from its inventor, Nick Bovis. As part of the lawsuit, SMTM is asking for a jury trial, damages, legal costs and a permanent injunction against Apple stopping it from infringing on the patent for the remainder of its lifespan.
SMTM is infamous for being a “patent troll” in the tech industry, having previously tried and failed to sue Microsoft.
LG Electronics sues Wiko for patent infringement
LG Electronics has filed a patent lawsuit against French smartphone maker Wiko accusing the company of violating LG’s LTE technology patent rights. By filing the lawsuit against Wiko with the district court of Mannheim, Germany, this is the second time that LG is taking legal action against an overseas smartphone producer since suing US-based Blu Products in March 2017.
International Patent Updates
WIPO worried over slump in Green Energy patenting
According to the World Intellectual Property Organization’s (WIPO) innovation index published recently by WIPO, the growth rate of patenting activity in the green energy field is falling. According to WIPO’s analysis, the total number of patent families and PCT applications in energy technologies almost doubled between 2005 and 2013. But this accelerated growth was followed by a period of deceleration and a slow decline. The total published PCT applications covering green energy technology peaked in 2013. This was followed by a decrease of about 11% between 2013 and 2017, dropping from 17,880 to 15,840, an annual decrease of 3%.
Patent Tip of the Week
What cannot be patented?
Not all ideas and inventions are patentable. Applicants and inventors must at the earliest stage of technology development find out and understand whether their idea / invention would be truly patentable. One of the very first parameters being patentable subject matter. What is not patentable subject matter may not be patented.
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].
