Responses to USPTO Trademark litigation tactics

As per the request of comments by USPTO on Trademark litigation tactics (Trademark Technical and Conforming Amendment Act of 2010), following groups responded with the relevant comments: American Intellectual Property lawyers Association, American Bar Association IP Law section, International Trademark Association, Intellectual Property Owner's Association , Eric M.Pelton Blog. Each organization has presented the facts and matter in a lucid and impressive manner.

( Image courtesy link)

New patent info tool : Rubicon Personal IP™

Well I just came across with an interesting, due to be launched Patent Information tool Rubicon Personal IP™. Rubicon IP is a patent info tool which will open the doors for all the patent related inquiries like patent litigation and procedures, patent fees with a user friendly interface ( Edited by premier European IP firm Murgitroyd & Company).The service is due to be launched by spring 2011. Users and IP professionals from all across the globe can create their profiles and can simultaneously access profiles of other members by region and location via the aid of graphical google map interface. Meanwhile the Website is testing for their beta version now, you can still gain access to free trial by registering here. For subscription and current news headlines visit Rubicon Personal IP.

 

ChaCha files trademark infringement suit over HTC smartphone

HTC is sued by the mobile Q&A platform ChaCha for trademark infringement over the HTC ChaCha : a new smartphone that features a smart Facebook button. ChaCha search Inc pursuing the court for injunction against HTC, and it is also requesting an order for unspecified damages.

ChaCha holds a registered Trademark in the United States since 2007.On the other hand HTC ChaCha is android based smartphone targeting the market in spring this year and is gaining popularity amongst the Facebook fans due to its  easy “f” key that users can press to automatically share content via Facebook. 

Meanwhile in determining the probability or likelihood of confusion, the major factor includes: "Whether or not the goods or services using the same mark compete with one another. Marks that are used on similar or related goods or services are more likely to confuse consumers. Even where the plaintiff's products are not exactly similar, the court may in some cases consider how likely the plaintiff is in the future to sell similar products. If at all, the firms are having overlapping consumer base then it becomes difficult to solicit the defendant. Having said that , it will be interesting to watch the case's outcome in the near future , as it might be a calculated risk on the defendant's side.

(Image by Peter Skadberg)

 

Pozen migraine drug fails to get patent extension

Pozen Inc said drug Treximet failed to get the pediatric exclusivity, the regulatory exclusivity is set to expire on April 15.Pozen Inc has acquired three patents on Treximet.Out of which two of the patents expire in August 2017 and one expires in October 2025.These patents have been challenged by four major pharma's namely:  Par Pharmaceuticals Inc,Alphapharm Pty Ltd, Teva, and Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Inc. Meanwhile during the current battle, Pozen's market dominance seems to drop as its shares observed 7 percent fall, this wednesday on Nasdaq.

(Image by D. Sharon Pruitt )

CIP- Forum 2011 offers world class session

With over 550 participants all across the globe, the CIP- Forum, 2011, at Gothenburg, Sweden starts from May 29 to June1,2011. Spanning a total of four days and four parallel themes, it offers a great opportunity for the students to attend this grand session. Amongst the four parallel themes, one session includes the talks on the theme- " Driving Innovation through Intellectual property Management", which will be held at the Swedish Exhibition and Congress Center , Monday May 30 at 13:30-17:00 hrs, Tuesday May 31 at 13:30-17:00 hrs.The Talks will explore new realms to utilize Intellectual property to build business through open innovation. The sessions are as follows:

Session 1: Open Innovation Strategy: Using IP to drive multiple innovation and business strategies.

Session 2: Intellectual Property Management in Manufacturing Industries: Is there a paradigm shift underway.

Session 3:The Future of the Knowledge-Based Firm: Are knowledge-based business models sustainable?

Session 4: Ethics and Intellectual Property – How should IP be used in business sectors with high social welfare implications.

(Note: SNITTS Swedish network for innovation and technology transfer support will in association with the organizers create arrangements within the framework of CIP FORUM 2011).

(Image courtesy link) 

Google vs Oracle legal battle still continues

Google legal battle with Oracle may take a new turn with Google's decision to ask USPTO to re-examine a number of Oracle patents.Google requested  ex parte reexamination of four Oracle America patents - U.S. Patent Nos. 5,966,702, 6,061,520, 6,125,447 & Re 38,104 – related to the Java platform. This result is in conjunction with the Google-Oracle battle over intellectual property rights with Oracle litigating against Google claiming Google backed Android Operating system violated Oracle's based java patents and copyrights.Looking at the time span and statistics of USPTO exparte re- examination requests (patent re-examinations on average take about 26 months). With these statistics it appears that there will be a significant delay in the actual trial which gives an absolutely different turn to the case.On the other side if the infringement is proved it could lead to loss of royalties as well as the market shares and dominance affecting both the tech giant firms.Well the due course of time will direct the outcomes on further proceedings in this case.

(Image link)
.

Medicines patent pool - facilitating Intellectual property access

Well for all those who are concerned about the growing prices of the pharmaceutical products and inaccessibility of relevant medicines around the globe at affordable prices, here is the solution " Medicines Patent pool". The Medicines Patent Pool aims to improve access to affordable and appropriate HIV medicines in middle or low income countries.Because of the increasing global pharmaceutical patenting, the pharma firms set up a monopoly in the global markets. Knowing that the usual term of patent as 20 years, it becomes difficult for people to afford the already set higher prices of the patented medicines, especially for the low income and underdeveloped and nations, an affordable access to appropriate medicines will aid in efficient healthcare facilities. 

Through a patent pool, patent-holders agree to share their intellectual property with each other or with third parties through the negotiation of licences.The methodology of working involves the pool negotiating with the pharma's or the inventors directly to share their patents with the pool and securing a considerable royalty in return of allowing another producer to manufacture and sell the generic version of their medicines in developing/undeveloped countries.The interested manufacturers can obtain a license from the pool for manufacturing the drug in question.The pool will initiate the production of fixed dose drugs (FDC) which will ease the treatment of the patients and will facilitate a treatment scale up in developing countries.You can access selected publications from the pool here. With big pharmaceutical giants showing willingness to join the pool, the future seems vibrant for the global healthcare system.

( Image Courtesy medicine patent pool )

 

Another Win for Facebook on photo tag search

Well here is the new buzz around. Facebook wins the patent on photo tag search. This win guarantee a better photo image tagging on Facebook.

U.S.Patent no.7,890,501  concerning “Visual tags for search results generated from social network information", has been awarded to Facebook on 15 Feb 2011.

The patent describes Search results, including sponsored links and algorithmic search results, generated in response to a query, and are marked based on frequency of clicks on the search results by members of social network who are within a predetermined degree of separation from the member who submitted the query. The markers are visual tags and comprise either a text string or an image. All this and a great feature of an easy interface with the photo sharing site Flickr, makes it all really interesting.

(Image link)

Legal advice just a click away

Today I will try to give you a glimpse of online legal advice portals. Recently, I have come across with this new website on the block named Vakilsearch. It appears to be an interesting concept started by a group of young entrepreneurs. The website provides an easy online access to the legal solutions without burning a hole in your pocket.Just at a click away, vakilsearch offers a gamut of legal advice ranging from Intellectual property laws, company's law, legal advice for NRI's, to fixing an appointment with lawyers in across 10 Indian cities. (Image coutesy link)

The next website caught my eye is legalight, well it offers a similar platform, consultation areas range from patents, copyrights, consumer protection, Company's act, property documentation and the list goes on.Well apart from all that you can access current national and international legal news, blogs and articles on eVakil. 

Well apart from all that, wouldn't you wish to have an access to something free, something which is not compelling you to shed extra bucks from your pocket, here is a webportal  Pathlegal.in. It offers free Online LPO training, register and get started. Access the link from here. I appreciate Pathlegal as it offers many platforms ranging from LPO resumes, LPO Firms, blogs and again the list goes on. So Enlighten yourself, keep yourself updated!

Drug firms snipes US Patent plans

US government proposal to bring cheap generic drugs in the market to help reduce health care costs has initiated criticism all over the Europe Pharmaceutical sector as reported by The Wall Street Journal.Many drug makers are in a fury over cutting the patent protection for biologic drugs to 7 years from 12 years, will upend their business models and curtail their ability to develop new drugs and generate profits.U.K. based specialty drug maker Shire Plc criticized the plan, saying, "We believe that type of change in the exclusivity period will restrict innovation and investment by the life-sciences industry to develop new treatments for patients". on the other hand the Pharma giant Roche said "  It believes stable regulatory conditions for biologics are necessary for driving innovation and investment in the biotechnology sector ".

      The US healthcare reforms seems to affect the already hard hit economies of Europe, where the price cuts and rebates in the pharmaceuticals have induced reasonable monetary loses.  But Europe deny the shortening of patent duration of branded drugs. Analysts say that the U.S. proposal ultimately may not go through, as the pharmaceutical lobby is strong enough to defend its interests. They said that a potential cut of the patent exclusivity will put more stress on the weakening industry. 

Image courtesy Link.

EU Lawmakers to make effective patent system

European Union lawmakers approved plans to create the first region-wide patent system .The European Parliament meeting in Strasbourg, France, today adopted the proposal, allowing supporters of the plan to go ahead without the full support of all the European nations. It is reported that companies pay a sum of 18,000 euros including a sum of 10,000 euros for translating patent documents which is valid in 13 countries. Language seems to be a major issue in legally binding procedures. Attempts to reach to an agreement on a region-wide EU patent since 2000 have stumbled over the language issues. The EU has 23 official languages and numerous attempts  have failed to satisfy political demands or cost concerning issues with translation of patent documents.The EU commission will be drafting new laws for the existing patent system soon. 

Image courtesy link

Google files patent application for social networking face recognition

The tech giant Google is reported to file a patent application in Europe august last year, which is supposedly published on Feb10,2011.

The Application defines how the availability of social networking profile data can increase the accuracy of facial recognition. Google has been working diligently since 2009 towards "Real time google search" but decided to delay implementing facial recognition until 2011. The technique involves checking visual queries against images accessible through social networking applications, calendar applications, and collaborative applications. Images obtained from these applications can then be compared for similarity to create a ranked list of possible identities to be used in conjunction with other search-related data.Surprisingly the filing took place a week before, it announced search engine like.com. Image courtesy link.

 

Global Patent applications rising : WIPO

It is reported by WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization) that the global Patent applications showed a rise the year 2010. With a strong economic growth in countries like China, Korea and Japan, the patent applications have shown a marked increase. The number of patent applications filed under PCT ( Patent Cooperation Treaty)  increased by 4.8 per cent in 2010. "Overall, PCT filings recovered from the economic crisis-induced drop in 2009, almost reaching their 2008 level,” WIPO Director-General Francis Gurry, said. Panasonic Corporation from Japan kept the top slot in the list of PCT applications published in 2010 (2,154), followed by Chinese telecommunications giant ZTE Corporation (1,863) and Qualcomm Incorporated from US (1,677). 

Image courtesy link.

                                                                 

Ford Ferrari dispute over F150 seems to settle

The lawsuit Ford Motor Co. filed alleging Ferrari infringed on its F-150 trademark seems to be settled with Ferrari changing the name of its Formula 1 race car from F150 to F150th. According to the report , Ferrari agreed to mention its 2011 race car as F150th Italia, as company's 150th anniversary in Italy. Ferrari has decided to make sure that the abbreviated version will be replacing the full version, Ferrari  F150th Italia.

 

 

 

                                                                                              Image courtesy link

Canadian patent licensing company Wi-LAN Inc plans to venture into software and internet patent licensing

Canadian Wi -LAN Inc. reporting to expand and plans to venture into software and internet patent licensing . Wi -LAN Inc holds expertise in wireless technology and holds 525 patents. Wi-LAN acquired about 100 patents related to wireless and antenna technology in mobile handset devices in the last quarter.

Image courtesy Here

US No.1 in the race of International Patent filings followed by Japan

US keeps the number one slot in International Patent filings with with 44,855 international applications, followed by Japan (32,156 filed applications) and Germany (17,171 filed applications).This makes US as the largest user of the PCT system. Digital Communication saw the fastest growth (17.3%, 10,581 published applications) in 2010. This technical field accounted for the largest share of total PCT applications published in 2010 .Almost every other field of technology experienced declines or modest growth. The sharpest decline in patenting was seen in the field of telecommunications.

 Amongst the firms, Panasonic Corp ( Japan) keeps the number one slot by filing whopping 2154 applications in the year 2010 whereas in spite of a rigorous competition amongst the world's top universities, The University of California (306 applications) accounted for the largest number of applications published in the category of academic institutions link.

 Image courtesy link

New Patent granted to Apple

Apple has been granted a recent patent on "Dynamic carrier selection," which describes a method for providing wireless communication services. According to the invention, a mobile device would store network address and communicate with network operator servers. After receiving data from available network operators, the device or user would select a carrier.Appleinsider discovered that a patent has been awarded to Apple.The invention would allow Apple to run a MVNO system that could collect rate information from participating wireless networks within a region and automatically select or allow users to select the best option.

Image courtesy here

Idiom Ltd patent decision-making process of hormone administration

New Zealand-based Idiom Limited, have patented the decision-making process of administering biomimetic estradiol and progesterone to women based on their individual requirements. The Wiley Protocol is a trademarked, patent-protected, bio-identical hormone replacement therapy (HRT) delivery system consisting of biomimetic estradiol and progesterone in a topical cream preparation.The Idiom Decision Manager is a graphical, easy-to-use, drag+drop tool that allows designing, capturing, testing, documentation, and accurate deployment of automated decision making know-how. Take a close look at the story here

Social networking giant Facebook trademarked " Face" what next !

It was quite the buzz that Facebook  is up for trademarking "Face" in the US in relation to social networking and related activities. But hold your breath, you will be amazed to know that Facebook has already trademarked " Face" in the EU union. The EU wide trademark for "Face" was granted in October 2006, with the expiration date set to May 24, 2014. Follow link.

Image Courtesy link

Creative common license

Well isn't it an interesting thought for you to have freedom in sharing what you want to share ( ofcourse giving credit to the owner ), rather than getting entangled in issues of copyrights. Creative common license can allow distribution of copyrighted work.Creative Commons (CC) is a non profit organization headquartered in San Francisco, California, United States devoted to expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share. Creative Commons was invented to create a more flexible copyright model, replacing "all rights reserved" with "some rights reserved". Our Fabulous Knowledge hub: Wikipedia is one of the noted web based encyclopedia using this license. Creative common allows the owners to enjoy rights and waive off certain rights for the recipients. The organization has released several copyrighted licenses known as creative common licenses free of charge to the public. 

 Image courtesy here

PhD in Intellectual property rights from CUSAT

Now you can avail a Doctrate in Intellectual Property Rights from The Center of Intellectual Property Rights Studies, CUSAT, kerala. Have a close look at the course and relevant details here.

Interesting Apple patent on pen input!

Apple shows a future stylus that ends with a small conductive disk instead of the current pens that end in plastic foam or rubber. Have a look at the current story here.

Image courtesy link

Palins file applications to trademark their names

Take a look  here, its an interesting follow up.

Biolase gets patent for laser treatment of presbyopia, hyperopia

USPTO issued a new patent on laser technology treating eye disorders like presbyopia and hyperopia, Have a close look at the story here

Alexion pays $111m for biotech firm, faces new patent lawsuit .

Cheshire-based Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc and two other biopharmaceutical companies Weston, Mass.-based Biogen Idec Inc. and a subsidiary of AstraZeneca Plc. were named in a patent infringement lawsuit filed last week by Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis AG. Take a look at the story here

Serious Pimp(R) is Serious About Protecting its Intellectual property.

Serious Pimp is a high quality brand that markets high quality products worthy of the many celebrities who wear them. Watch out the story here