“JPO IPR training program – Call for Applications, Delhi High Court upsets Monsanto’s patent plan, USPTO demands elimination of Form 27 (Statement of working of patents), Beijing Court upholds decision in Samsung – Huawei patent dispute, Samsung stares at multi-million dollar patent infringement suit in US, Apple to pay $502m for FaceTime patent infringement, Minor changes in originally claimed design call for a separate registration, Design Tip of the Week and other Weekly Patent News,” presented by the Patent attorneys and experts of BananaIP Counsels, India’s leading Patent Firm.
Design Quote of the Week
“A functional shape and configuration, which is dictated solely by the functionality, is not registerable under the Design Act as a design.” – Carlsberg v Som Distilleries case.
Indian Patent Statistics
In an about-face from previous weeks figures, a total of 887 patent applications have been published in the 15th issue of the patent journal marking a decrease of about 15.11% in the total number of patent applications published. Out of the 887 applications, 69 applications account for early publications while 818 applications account for ordinary publications or publications occurring after the 18 month period. A mere total of 176 applications have been granted this week marking a sharp decrease in grants by about 66%.
Early Publications
| City | Previous Week | This Week | Percentage of change |
| Delhi | 48 | 1 | 97.91% decrease |
| Mumbai | 9 | 45 | 400% increase |
| Chennai | 25 | 14 | 44% decrease |
| Kolkata | 28 | 9 | 67.85% decrease |
| Total | 110 | 69 | 37.27% decrease |
Ordinary Publications
| City | Previous Week | This Week | Percentage of change |
| Delhi | 403 | 237 | 41.19% decrease |
| Mumbai | 81 | 93 | 14.81% increase |
| Chennai | 425 | 472 | 11.05% increase |
| Kolkata | 26 | 16 | 38.46% decrease |
| Total | 935 | 818 | 12.51% decrease |
TOTAL PUBLICATIONS (Previous Week): 1045
TOTAL PUBLICATIONS (This Week): 887
Percentage difference: 15.11% decrease
First Examination Report (FER) Statistics
A total of 688 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 | 197 |
| Mumbai | 77 |
| Chennai | 295 |
| Kolkata | 119 |
| Total | 688 |
PUBLICATIONS UNDER GRANT
| City | Previous Week | This Week | Percentage of change |
| Delhi | 221 | 70 | 68.32% decrease |
| Mumbai | 54 | 12 | 77.77% decrease |
| Chennai | 147 | 58 | 60.54% decrease |
| Kolkata | 100 | 36 | 64% decrease |
| Total | 522 | 176 | 66.28% decrease |
Number of Applications published based on applicant city
Of the total 887 patent applications published in the journal last week, Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Kolkata have contributed a total of 93 applications. The total applications from each of the previously mentioned cities for the past week are as follows – 33 from Mumbai, 16 from Chennai, 15 from Hyderabad, 14 from Bangalore, 12 from Delhi and 3 from Kolkata..
| List of Cities | 1st January 2018 – 13th April 2018 | 7th April 2018 – 13th April 2018 |
| Delhi | 430 | 12 |
| Mumbai | 273 | 33 |
| Bangalore | 254 | 14 |
| Chennai | 177 | 16 |
| Hyderabad | 151 | 15 |
| Kolkata | 65 | 3 |
Total number of applications published by the Indian Patent Office from the 1st of January 2018 till date: 10993
- Early publications: 1017
- Ordinary Publications: 9976
Total number of patents granted by the Indian Patent Office from the 1st of January 2018 till date: 4587
- Delhi – 1766
- Mumbai – 565
- Chennai – 1389
- Kolkata – 867
Indian Industrial Designs Statistics
The designs office has registered a total of 203 designs this week. The total designs registered from the 1st of January 2018 till date now adds to a total of 3139 applications.
Total designs registered in the previous Week: 202
Total designs registered this Week: 203
Percentage Difference: 0.49%increase
Total designs registered from the 1st of January 2018 till date: 3139
Indian Patent Office updates
JPO IPR training program – Call for Applications
The Japan Institute for Promoting Invention and Innovation (JIPII) and the Association for Overseas Technical Cooperation and Sustainable Partnerships (AOTS) is conducting its yearly IPR training program from June 19th this year to February 1st of the next year. There are five batches spread across the time period and each of them target a special group such as IP Academicians, IP promoter, IP Practitioners, etc.
The training program in Japan is funded by the JPO, while its operation is entrusted to Japan Institute for Promoting Invention and Innovation (JIPII) and the Association for Overseas Technical Cooperation and Sustainable Partnerships (AOTS). Applications for the program may be sent to the Indian Patent Office before April 20, 2018. Details available here.
Domestic Patent Updates
Delhi High Court upsets Monsanto’s patent plan
After a long-drawn battle, the Delhi High Court in its judgment last week ruled that Monsanto Co. cannot be granted a patent in India over its genetically modified cotton seeds. Section 3(j) of the Indian Patent Act, 1970 clearly excludes patents over “plants and animals in whole or any part thereof other than micro-organisms but including seeds, varieties and species and essentially biological processes for production or propagation of plants and animals;”. The Court was quick to add that the agro company was free to claim IP protection over its seeds as a plant variety.
USPTO demands elimination of Form 27 (Statement of working of patents)
The Hindu recently reported that United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has demanded that the Indian patent office eliminate ‘Form 27’and its requirements altogether. This demand has ruffled several feathers and raised eyebrows to the extent that the demand has been called inappropriate, improper and an unacceptable interference by a foreign government in the country’s domestic affairs.
The leading daily, added that Komal Kalha, senior counsel for the USPTO, had submitted before the Office of the Controller-General of Patents, Designs and Trademarks, that “if the Government of India is soliciting these views with the intention of reforming the Form 27 system, the U.S. urges India to take the opportunity to significantly improve the ease of doing business, enhance predictability and certainty for innovative industries, align with international best practices, and help achieve National IP Policy, Start-up India, and other national initiatives by eliminating the requirement for patentees to regularly file Form 27 statements. At the same time, India should refrain from applying such onerous penalties to violations of this type.”
Is there a happy ending to the Form 27 story? It remains to be seen.
Patent Infringements, Disputes, Licensing and Settlements.
Beijing Court upholds decision in Samsung – Huawei patent dispute
Samsung has suffered a setback in China after a Beijing Court specializing in intellectual property (IP) rights disputes dismissed the requests from Samsung Electronics seeking invalidation of Huawei Technologies’ certain patent rights on smartphones. The decision comes after a local Chinese court passed an order calling for the ban of sales of certain phone models of Samsung in China.
Samsung stares at multi-million dollar patent infringement suit in US
In what could turn out to yet another headache for Samsung, a US data security company PACid Technologies has announced that it would be suing the South Korean company for alleged infringement of three patents belonging to the American company. The three patents in question are believed to be related to the biometric security features of Samsung’s recent Galaxy devices; specifically, the Galaxy S6, Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S8. The patents, two of which are said to be based in the US and one of which originated from Korea, have seemingly been infringed upon by Samsung’s KNOX security system and biometric operating system PASS.
PACid, who previously sued Google, Apple and Nintendo for patent infringement has demanded a compensation of 3 million dollars in damages.
Apple to pay $502m for FaceTime patent infringement
Licensing company VirnetX Holding Corp has been awarded $502.6 million by a federal jury in East Texas after it found that Apple was guilty of infringing secure communications patents belonging to VirnetX Holding Corp., a notorious patent troll that has been battling Apple in court for nearly eight years.
Apple has been asked to pay damages to VirnetX for infringing four different patents of the company that the Cupertino based giant uses in its iMessage, FaceTime, and VPN solutions it offers on iPhones and iPads.
BananaIP’s Patent / Design Tip of the Week
Minor changes in originally claimed design call for a separate registration
It is common for applicants and companies to modify their original designs to make it more suitable for sale. While the modifications brought may be minor, novelty in a design protection is based on its aesthetic appeal. It is therefore always advisable to file a design application for the modified design. Piracy in a design is decided on obvious imitation of the designed article and hence it is strongly recommended that even minor modifications to a design is notified and registered with the respective design offices.
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].
