“Slight increase in patent statistics, Interesting Patents, Seismic isolator device for seismic protection, Automated Retractable Writing Instrument, Patent Agent Examination registrations, Apple versus WiLan, Patent Infringement, Patent Licensing, InterDigital completes acquisition of Technicolor’s Patent Licensing business, Updated WIPO Guide on ADR’s in IP 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
“Inventions cannot be judged on patent parameters, but patents have the ability to take inventions very far.” – Dr. Kalyan C Kankanala, Author, IP Professor, Founder
Indian Patent Statistics
A total of 564 patent applications have been published in the 31st issue of the patent journal. Out of the 564 applications, 98 applications account for early publications while 466 applications account for ordinary publications or publications occurring after the 18 month period. A total of 367 applications have been granted this week thereby marking an increase of about 26.12% in grants compared to the previous week.
Early Publications
| City | Previous Week | This Week | Percentage of change |
| Delhi | 19 | 28 | 47.37% increase |
| Mumbai | 3 | 38 | 1166.67% increase |
| Chennai | 27 | 27 | No change |
| Kolkata | 0 | 5 | — |
| Total | 49 | 98 | 100% increase |
Ordinary Publications
| City | Previous Week | This Week | Percentage of change |
| Delhi | 100 | 90 | 10% decrease |
| Mumbai | 50 | 96 | 92% increase |
| Chennai | 210 | 236 | 12.38% increase |
| Kolkata | 11 | 44 | 300% increase |
| Total | 371 | 466 | 25.61% increase |
TOTAL PUBLICATIONS (Previous Week): 420
TOTAL PUBLICATIONS (This Week): 564
Percentage difference: 34.29% increase
First Examination Report (FER) Statistics
A total of 1809 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 | 635 |
| Mumbai | 241 |
| Chennai | 648 |
| Kolkata | 285 |
| Total | 1809 |
PUBLICATIONS UNDER GRANT
| City | Previous Week | This Week | Percentage of change |
| Delhi | 106 | 150 | 41.51% increase |
| Mumbai | 33 | 48 | 45.45% increase |
| Chennai | 99 | 106 | 7.07% increase |
| Kolkata | 53 | 63 | 18.87% increase |
| Total | 291 | 367 | 26.12% increase |
Number of Applications published based on applicant city
Of the total 564 patent applications published in the journal last week, Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Kolkata have contributed a total of 132 applications. The total applications from each of the previously mentioned cities are as follows – 40 applications from Bangalore, 32 applications from Mumbai, 27 applications from Delhi, 19 applications from Chennai, 9 applications from Kolkata and 5 applications from Hyderabad.
| List of Cities | 1st January 2018 – 3rd August 2018 | 28th July 2018 – 3rd August 2018 |
| Delhi | 698 | 27 |
| Mumbai | 516 | 32 |
| Bangalore | 629 | 40 |
| Chennai | 375 | 19 |
| Hyderabad | 288 | 5 |
| Kolkata | 136 | 9 |
Total number of applications published by the Indian Patent Office from the 1st of January 2018 till date: 22,909
- Early publications: 2,150
- Ordinary Publications: 20,759
Total number of patents granted by the Indian Patent Office from the 1st of January 2018 till date: 8508
- Delhi – 3208
- Mumbai – 1010
- Chennai – 2618
- Kolkata – 1672
Indian Industrial Designs Statistics
The designs office has registered a total of 116 designs this week. The total designs registered from the 1st of January 2018 till date now adds to a total of 5367 applications.
Total designs registered in the previous Week: 102
Total designs registered this Week: 116
Percentage Difference: 13.73% increase
Total designs registered from the 1st of January 2018 till date: 5367
Interesting Patents
Patent Application 1
Title: Seismic isolator device for seismic protection
Applicant: Dr. K G. Thirugnanasambantham et al.
Application No.: 201841027780
Abstract: A seismic isolator device for seismic protection of the civil structure; said system comprising an upper plate, a lower plate, a slope surface, and a rolling roller. The said device is installed between base mass and foundation of structure by providing rolling rollers with concave friction distribution. When an earthquake occurs (and exceeds a certain intensity), the device may release the fixed force and the rollers can roll freely along concave surface to filter out the ground acceleration; resulting in the isolation of the structure. The device having low value of rolling friction coefficient, which allows a very low earthquake force to be transmitted to the foundation of structure and reduces the transmission of horizontal acceleration into the civil structure. Also, the device having re-centering capability, which allows the civil structure to center itself and accommodate substantially larger displacements compared to a traditional sliding seismic isolator bearing. (The abstract text has been taken as is and has not been corrected for errors)
Patent Application 2
Title: Automated Retractable Writing Instrument
Applicant: Shardha Porwal et al.
Application No.: 201711003066
Abstract: The current invention relates to the field of designing an innovated writing instrument that involves automatic retractable ink cartridge present within the body of the writing instrument. The nib attached to the ink cartridge is capable to be automatically drawn out from the body of writing instrument, as and when the instrument is placed in writing position with finger grip over touch panel. Similarly, as soon as the writing instrument is released, its nib goes inside the body of writing instrument, without any manual retraction. (The abstract text has been taken as is and has not been corrected for errors)
Indian Patent Updates
Patent Agent Examination registrations to remain open till 16th August 2018
Registrations for the 2018 Patent Agent Examination are open and interested applicants can register themselves on the official website of the Indian Patent Office or by clicking here. The tentative date of the examinations is October 28, 2018 and the registration closes on 16th August 2018. We will keep you posted on any new developments that occur in this regard.
Patent Infringements, Disputes, Licensing and Settlements.
Apple suffers massive loss in patent infringement suit
WiLan, the Canada based IP licensing company was awarded $145.1 million in damages after a California jury ruled against tech giant Apple. The jury found that some iPhone models infringed two of WiLan’s wireless communications technology patents. Apple rejected the infringement claims in pre-trial filings, and reportedly plans to appeal the verdict.
InterDigital completes acquisition of Technicolor’s Patent Licensing business
InterDigital, Inc., the mobile technology research and development company has announced that it has completed the acquisition of the patent licensing business of Technicolor. The final transaction appears to include the acquisition of approximately 18,000 patents and applications, across a broad range of technologies, including approximately 3,000 worldwide video coding patents and applications. Under the terms of the agreement, InterDigital has reportedly paid Technicolor about $150 million in cash.
International Patent Updates
Updated WIPO Guide on ADR’s in IP
The World Intellectual Property Organization Arbitration and Mediation Center has released an updated guide providing an overview of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) processes for intellectual property disputes. The guide provides instructions on how to use the ADR process that has helped resolve tens of thousands of legal disputes outside of the courts. The WIPO guide is available to the public and may be accessed here.
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].
