“Increase in publications by the Indian Patent Office, Increase in Industrial design registrations, New publication format by IPO, Usage of bamboo species for sofas to reduce carbon footprint, purification of water by using conceptual creative energy, plastic fuel for automobiles, Qualcomm fined for unfair SEP licensing, Qualcomm Inc. and General Mobile sign a patent license agreement, Indian patent office and WIPO sign agreement to facilitate exchange of data, Importance of claim wording, Patent tip of the week and more weekly news updates,” presented by the Patent attorneys and experts of BananaIP Counsels, India’s leading Patent Firm.
Patent Quote of the Week
“Patents need inventors more than inventors need patents” – Dr. Kalyan C. Kankanala, Renowned IP Attorney, Professor and Author.
Indian Patent Statistics
There has been a remarkable increase of 104p.46% in the number of publications recorded by the Indian Patent office. 279 applications in total have been granted, marking 88 more grants in comparison with the previous week. A notable positive change brought in by the Patent office is publishing the applications for which examination reports have been issued by it through the week.
Early Patent Publications
| City | Previous Week | This Week | Percentage of change |
| Delhi | 12 | 4 | 66.66% decrease |
| Mumbai | 33 | 44 | 33.33% increase |
| Chennai | 28 | 33 | 17.85% increase |
| Kolkata | 0 | 21 | NA |
| Total | 73 | 102 | 39.72% increase |
Ordinary Patent Publications
| City | Previous Week | This Week | Percentage of change |
| Delhi | 192 | 451 | 134.89% increase |
| Mumbai | 137 | 112 | 18.24% decrease |
| Chennai | 407 | 316 | 22.35% decrease |
| Kolkata | 19 | 712 | 3647.36% increase |
| Total | 755 | 1591 | 110.72% increase |
TOTAL Patent PUBLICATIONS (Previous Week): 828
TOTAL patent PUBLICATIONS (This Week): 1693
Percentage difference: 104.46% increase
Publications under Grant
| City | Previous Week | This Week | Percentage of change |
| Delhi | 78 | 100 | 28.20% increase |
| Mumbai | 15 | 22 | 46.66% increase |
| Chennai | 76 | 87 | 14.47% increase |
| Kolkata | 22 | 70 | 218.18% increase |
| Total | 191 | 279 | 46.07% increase |
Number of Applications published based on applicant city
Totally, 168 patent applications have been published from the below listed cities. Diverting from the usual trend, this week, Kolkata is at the forefront with 70 applications. Far behind Kolkata is Mumbai with 34 publications in the second position.
| List of Cities | 1st January 2017 – till date | 7th October 2017 – 13th October 2017 |
| Mumbai | 1125 | 34 |
| Bangalore | 1004 | 23 |
| Delhi | 671 | 7 |
| Chennai | 665 | 20 |
| Hyderabad | 349 | 14 |
| Kolkata | 181 | 70 |
Total number of applications published by the Indian Patent Office from the 1st of January 2017 till 13th October 2017: 25489
- Early publications: 2375
- Ordinary Publications: 23114
Total number of patents granted by the Indian Patent Office from the 1st of January 2017 till 13th October 2017: 10087
- Delhi – 4153
- Mumbai – 1084
- Chennai – 3022
- Kolkata – 1828
First Examination Report (FER) Statistics
For the first time, the Indian Patent office has released data in the journal with respect to the examination reports issued for patent applications. In addition to the Patent Number and respective patent office, the data also provides the patent agent registered for the application along with the email id. Applicants and Patent Agents can now check if FERs have been issued for any of their applications by perusing the journal.
| City | No. of FER Issued |
| Delhi | 204 |
| Mumbai | 85 |
| Chennai | 133 |
| Kolkata | 80 |
| Total | 502 |
Indian Industrial Designs Statistics
Industrial Design registrations saw an increase of about fifty percent during this week, compared to the previous week. 250 Industrial Designs have been registered this week.
Total designs registered in the previous Week: 166
Total designs registered this Week: 250
Percentage Difference: 50.60% increase
Total designs registered from the 1st of January 2017 till date: 7433
Interesting Patents and Designs
Furniture patents, Patent for Water Purification by creative energy and Fuel from Plastic Patents
From usage of bamboo species in fabric, zero use of chemicals or machines for purification of water, to usage of plastic to create fuel for automobiles; the inventions published this week are definitely going green!
Patent Application 1: Usage of bamboo species for sofas to reduce carbon footprint
Title: MOVABLE DENDROCALAMUS STRICTUS SOFA WITH INTERCHANGEABLE CLOTHS
Application No. 201721034896
Applicants: HOF FURNITURE SYSTEM PVT. LTD
Abstract: “The present invention relates method and system for the construction of the furniture using the Dendrocalamus Strictus, a bamboo species. The present invention very light weight and energy efficient with a low carbon footprint and is completely dismantable, updatable and eco-friendly. With minute attention to the green theme, no iron nail has been used as joinery. Buttons have been utilized instead. The supply chain of raw materials has been kept short. This has allowed the making of a sofa from entirely indigenous products that has made a big global impact. The present invention is use as household furniture as well as commercial furniture, more specifically for the sofa.” (Abstract has been taken from the patent application as is and has not been corrected.)
Patent Application 2: Now positive energy can be used for purification of water not just souls!
Title: A NOVEL SYSTEM FOR PURIFICATION OF WATER BY USING CONCEPTUAL CREATIVE ENERGY.
Application No.: 201721033866
Applicants: MR. SWAMI HARDAS
Abstract: “The invention is for purifying ground water, in situ, as well as surface water by simple and economical approach of energy healing system utilizing conceptual creative energy. The subtle forms of universal creative energy and conceptual positive energy based on consciousness are being properly generated and applied in order to get the evidential effects of purification and decontamination of water. Several on-field trials reveal that the system is effective in purifying the water. In this system there is no use of any machine/instrument or chemical or any sort of addition into or withdrawal from the water. Any treatment such as filtration of the water is also not used.” (Abstract has been taken from the patent application as is and has not been corrected.)
Patent Application 3: Two birds with one stone! Solution for disposal of plastic as well as fossil fuel shortage.
Title: PLASTIC FUEL FOR AUTOMOBILES
Application No.: 201741034837
Applicants: BHARATH UNIVERSITY
Abstract: “This invention relates to a method of converting waste plastic materials into a fuel that can be used to run automobiles. The process involve pyrolysis of the waste plastic at temperature of around 300 degrees Celsius, resulting in conversion of the plastic into a liquid fuel capable of being used. This method is able to tackle both the problems of plastic waste disposal and fossil fuel shortage.” (Abstract has been taken from the patent application as is and has not been corrected.)
Startups, Inventions, Innovations
Philips Health Works assists 4 start-ups to scale their ideas and inventions
Philips Health Works recently announced the first cohort of its accelerator program. It hosted a ‘Breakthrough Day’ at the Philips Innovation Campus last week and invited Indian start-ups to demonstrate their inventions in the health care domain. The inventions varied from a non-invasive breast screening solution to an intelligent social platform that tracks a child’s holistic developmental activities, a solution for monitoring cancer treatment efficacy and clinical outcomes, and an emotionally intelligent AI platform. Among 600 start-ups that displayed their inventions, 4 start-ups namely Niramai, Parentlane, Theranosis, and Touchkin. In this global startups initiative, Philips Healthworks will help them build, test, de-risk, scale and protect their ideas and inventions.
Government news and updates
Indian patent office and WIPO sign agreement to facilitate exchange of data
The Controller General of the Indian Patent and Trademark Office and the Director General of WIPO signed a Cooperation agreement on 5th October 2017 at Geneva Switzerland. This Agreement will enable smooth exchange of data such as Indian Patent documents, search and examination reports through WIPO CASE and WIPO Digital Access Services (DAS) to make priority documents available electronically. This agreement focuses on improvement of IP business services at the Office, including projects for digitalization, data capture and data quality improvement, data exchange for the dissemination of IP information, provision of business systems by WIPO for digitization, document management, online search and any related systems or modules and creation of national and/or regional IP databases.
Patent licensing, agreements and commercialization
BlackBerry and BLU sign a patent license agreement to settle ensuing patent litigations
BlackBerry has announced a new patent license with BLU products on a program that makes it easier for OEMs to license their Android ROM, called BlackBerry uSecure, and they’re working on other software platforms for Android and iOS as well. Their ongoing patent infringement lawsuit will stand settled and other pending actions in US will be withdrawn owing to this patent license agreement between the two companies. BLU will continue to pay BlackBerry for the patents they had been using and will continue to use in their smartphones.
Qualcomm Inc fined for unfair Standard Essential Patent licensing
Taiwanese Government has fined Qualcomm Inc about $773 million for legal and regulatory violations caused by its patent licensing. Last week, the Taiwanese Fair Trade Commission ruled that Qualcomm Inc violated the country’s laws by licensing its patents unfairly. Qualcomm intends to appeal against the ruling. Qualcomm Inc bases its royalty rate on the price of a whole device rather than that of its chips, and it licenses its essential patents only along with its entire patent portfolio. Qualcomm Inc was required to license its IP on fair and reasonable terms and failed to do so.
Qualcomm Inc. and General Mobile sign a patent license agreement with regard to 3G and 4G devices
Qualcomm Inc and General Mobile have signed a 3G and 4G patent license agreement to develop, manufacture and sell 3G and 4G complete devices. General Mobile is a leading Turkish and regional smartphone brand, and partner of Google’s Android One program, bringing high quality Android smartphones to Turkey and other markets around the world. Qualcomm’s technologies powered the smartphone revolution and pioneered 3G and 4G and now they are leading the way to 5G and a new technological era of intelligent, connected devices. This license places General Motors in the list of OEMs that have access to Qualcomm’s leading technology. This agreement will enable General Mobile to create new Android devices that utilize many of the industry-leading mobile technologies.
HCL Technologies terminates existing Joint Venture Agreement with DXC Technology
HCL technologies has decided to discontinue its joint venture agreement with DXC Technology and enter into a new IP partnership with the company. Their partnership began in July 2015 leading to the formation of two joint venture entities — CeleritiFin Tech Ltd (CFT) and Celerit iFinTech Services (CFTS) which were responsible for sales and marketing of core banking products along with service delivery. Under the new partnership, HCL will take up handling product development and modernization, maintenance and professional services of core banking products. HCL will acquire exclusive rights for 10 years for the core banking products (earlier with JV companies) and pay USD 50 million. On such payment, HCL will get perpetual rights for the core banking products and the derivative IP products
Patent disputes, infringement and settlements
Trial for MiMedx Patent infringement lawsuit to begin in January 2018
The United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia has set a trial date of January 22, 2018 for the Company’s patent infringement lawsuit against Musculoskeletal Transplant Foundation, Inc. Medline Industries, Inc and Liventa Bioscience, Inc. This Law suit was filed in April 2014 and all efforts of MTF, Liventa and Medline to avoid a trial through summary judgment and other legal maneuvers have failed and the trial will commence soon.
Wisconsin American Court reduces penalty to be paid by TCS
TCS had to pay a fine of $940 million for allegedly stealing healthcare software from Epic Systems based on an order from Wisconsin federal jury released in April 2016. Now the penalty has been reduced to $420 million by the US court. TCS intends to appeal against the order and has denied misuse of Epic systems’ trade secrets.
BananaIP’s Patent Tip of the Week
Claim Writing and Patent Protection
Claims are parts of a patent which define the boundaries of patent protection. Patent claims are the legal basis for your patent protection. Each claim should have only one meaning which can be either broad or narrow, but not both at the same time. Wording claims in the right manner is therefore extremely important for protecting an invention appropriately.
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].
