“Patent Prosecution strategy, Interesting Designs, Patent Agent Examination – 2018 Registration extension, Certificate Course on “Patent Law Practices in the United States, India and China” by GNLU, Ericsson demands arbitration in HTC dispute, Amazon’s ‘cage for workers’ patent faces severe criticism, ARIPO to launch Free Regional Intellectual Property Database 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
“Patent prosecution is a lot like a game of chess. It requires skill, strategy and sacrifice.” – Gaurav Mishra, BananaIP Counsels.
Indian Patent Statistics
A total of 634 patent applications have been published in the 37th issue of the patent journal. Out of the 634 applications, 47 applications account for early publications while 587 applications account for ordinary publications or publications occurring after the 18 month period. A total of 246 applications have been granted this week thereby marking a decrease of about 7.51% in total grants as compared to the preceding week.
Early Publications
| City | Previous Week | This Week | Percentage of change |
| Delhi | 32 | 3 | 90.62% decrease |
| Mumbai | 44 | 13 | 70.45% decrease |
| Chennai | 20 | 29 | 45% increase |
| Kolkata | 20 | 2 | 90% decrease |
| Total | 116 | 47 | 59.48% decrease |
Ordinary Publications
| City | Previous Week | This Week | Percentage of change |
| Delhi | 625 | 242 | 579.35% increase |
| Mumbai | 64 | 60 | 13.51% decrease |
| Chennai | 147 | 260 | 46.15% decrease |
| Kolkata | 3 | 25 | 92.5% decrease |
| Total | 839 | 587 | 30.03% decrease |
TOTAL PUBLICATIONS (Previous Week): 955
TOTAL PUBLICATIONS (This Week): 634
Percentage difference: 33.61% decrease
First Examination Report (FER) Statistics
A total of 1131 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 | 300 |
| Mumbai | 171 |
| Chennai | 429 |
| Kolkata | 231 |
| Total | 1131 |
PUBLICATIONS UNDER GRANT
| City | Previous Week | This Week | Percentage of change |
| Delhi | 94 | 74 | 21.27% decrease |
| Mumbai | 38 | 42 | 10.52% increase |
| Chennai | 79 | 78 | 1.26% decrease |
| Kolkata | 55 | 58 | 5.45% increase |
| Total | 266 | 246 | 7.51% decrease |
Number of Applications published based on applicant city
Of the total 634 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 are as follows – 20 applications from Bangalore, 16 applications from Mumbai, 19 applications from Delhi, 19 applications from Chennai, 14 applications from Hyderabad and 5 applications from Kolkata.
| List of Cities | 1st January 2018 – 14th September 2018 | 7th September 2018 – 14th September 2018 |
| Delhi | 807 | 19 |
| Mumbai | 642 | 16 |
| Bangalore | 801 | 20 |
| Chennai | 477 | 19 |
| Hyderabad | 357 | 14 |
| Kolkata | 181 | 5 |
Total number of applications published by the Indian Patent Office from the 1st of January 2018 till date: 27509
- Early publications: 2619
- Ordinary Publications: 24890
Total number of patents granted by the Indian Patent Office from the 1st of January 2018 till date: 9875
- Delhi – 3678
- Mumbai – 1194
- Chennai – 3069
- Kolkata – 1940
Indian Industrial Designs Statistics
The designs office has registered a total of 142 designs this week. The total designs registered from the 1st of January 2018 till date now adds to a total of 6211 applications.
Total designs registered in the previous Week: 145
Total designs registered this Week: 142
Percentage Difference: 2.06% decrease
Total designs registered from the 1st of January 2018 till date: 6211
Interesting Designs
In the design journal published on the 14th of September, 2018, an interesting design has been granted registration by the designs office, Kolkata. The design pertains to the design of a Bottle. The design no. 278147 is titled “Bottle” and has been registered under Class 09-01, which pertains to Bottles, Flasks, Pots, Carboys, Demijohns, and containers with dynamic dispensing mean. The bottle as shown below is designed in a unique manner, making it look somewhat similar to a snail’s shell.
India Patent updates
Patent Agent Examination – 2018 Registration extension
In order to facilitate the completion of the application process for aspirants from flood affected areas of various parts of the nation, the online registrations for patent agent examination has been re-opened from the 14th of September 2018 and will remain open until 3 PM of 20th September 2018. Applicants interested in registering for the exam may do so using the online portal at ipindia or by clicking here.
Patent Courses, Seminars, Conferences and others
Certificate Course on “Patent Law Practices in the United States, India and China” by GNLU
Gujarat National Law University and the George Washington University Law School, are jointly hosting a two day Certificate Course on “Patent Law Practices in the United States, India and China” on the 3rd and 4th of October 2018 at Gujarat National Law University, Gujarat.
Topics to be covered: Patent eligibility/ineligibility; Utility; Novelty; Non-obviousness; e Specification and Objective Disclosure Doctrines (Written Description and Enablement); Claim Construction and Indefiniteness; and Infringement.
To know how to register and read more about this, please click here – Livelaw.in
Patent /Design Infringements, Disputes, Licensing and Settlements
Ericsson demands arbitration in HTC dispute
Ericsson has demanded that a complaint from HTC over standard-essential patent (SEP) royalties should be decided in arbitration, and is not within the jurisdiction of a US District Court. This demand from Ericsson comes after HTC sued Ericsson in April this year at the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas accusing Ericsson of refusing to accept HTC’s fair and reasonable royalty rate calculations to licence Ericsson’s SEPs related to cellular and wireless networks.
International Patent updates
Amazon’s ‘cage for workers’ patent faces severe criticism
Amazon has filed absurd patent applications before but the patent granted to the e-commerce giant recently by the USPTO appears to have taken absurdity to another level. The patent, titled “System and Method for transporting Personnel within an active Workspace” (Patent no. 9280157) was issued to Amazon in the March of 2016 but was brought to light recently through a research paper presented by AI ethics researchers Kate Crawford and Vladen Joler.
While many people were horrified at the idea, Amazon was quick to clarify that the system was never implemented and said the cage was designed for worker safety. Recently Amazon has come under fire for its working conditions. An undercover journalist reported that workers were peeing in bottles to avoid missing targets, which Amazon denied later.
ARIPO to launch Free Regional Intellectual Property Database
The African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO) has launched a Regional Intellectual Property (IP) database to promote trade in Africa. The centralized database with published IP titles from the ARIPO Member States will not only be accessible online but will be free for all. The ARIPO Regional IP Database it appears will have information from ARIPO, Botswana, Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
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];
