Manual of Geographical Indications Practice Published

The Manual of Geographical Indications Practice and Procedure has been published on 27th July 2011 by the Office of Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trademarks. All the relevant information has been discussed in the manual including the evolution of GI (Geographic Indications), the Geographical Indications of Goods ( Registration and Protection) Act 1999, Filing of GI applications, Examination, Opposition, Authorized  User Registration etc. Readers can access the manual here.

( Image by Jordi Soro)

New poll of the week

 The new poll of the week can be accessed here. Readers may vote their opinion by following the mentioned link or can access the poll by scrolling down the blog page.The results for the last poll of the week: "Do you think Parallel imports should be discouraged in context of IPR protection", is as follows :

About 80 percent of the readers voted for a big "No". It certainly implies that people are in favor of parallel imports been given due consideration and relaxation from IPR protection. Meanwhile, it is important to state that this is just the opinion of the readers who voted and the general opinion may differ from person to person. 

(Image by Svilen Milev)

Patent Troll takes it Toll

We have witnessed quite a number of patent trolls in the past few months. Most of them have been in the web or mobile apparel development zone. The new addition to this list is the Kootol , an Indian based software start up. It is evident that Kootol Software Limited, filed the US patent application early in the year 2006 titled “Universal knowledge management and desktop search system”. The patent application states “A system for transmission, reception and accumulation of the knowledge packets to plurality of channel nodes in the network operating distributedly in a peer to peer environment”. Also the “would be” granted patent system covers Dynamic Communication & Real Time Search Engine along with one source all messaging functionality at user's hand . While it is noteworthy that Kootol is a new software start up and is a non- practicing entity which will pursue to complete the development of its software solutions in future, based on the technologies they have patented or filed for patents. Kootol has already notified a number of companies including Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Apple, Bharti Airtel Ltd., Amazon, AOL, Nokia, Ford Motor, Foursquare Inc., IBM, Linkedin, Twitter, etc. for using their core technology for which they are expecting a patent soon.

It is mentioned on Kootol's website “We are in the process of sending informative notice to several other companies and developers, who are using our technology. We also welcome all the companies and developers for the licensing”. Seems like Kootol's stand is lucid , they expect to license their technology extensively to all those App developers using its core technology. But it is a crucial point to note that small time mobile or the web apparel developers will find it a pocket burning deal to fight litigation or infringement suits on a regular basis. It is evident that increasing number of Patent trolls will certainly decelerate the pace of innovations in the near future. Technology Developers and Innovators should adopt practices like Patent watch, Clearance search, or Due diligence search, Patent re-examinations, Patent infringement insurance and Early settlements, in order to save time and money invested in their venture. On this note , I conclude by stating that the bottom line is to secure your Technology as well as your Business to survive in the global competitive market. 

 

( Image by Jenny Rollo) 

New Poll of the week

New poll of the week can be accessed here or you may scroll down the blog page and cast your vote there. The results for the last poll : " Do you think budding entrepreneurs should have priority towards focusing on IP framework during the drafting stages of their business", almost 100 percent of the readers voted for a big "Yes". So, readers keep clicking and voice your opinions.

( Image by Billy Alexander)
 

Do E-commerce based platforms infringe upon trademarks

E-commerce has emerged as a prominent and cost effective business method to reach the global consumers with just a click of the mouse. Small , medium and even large enterprises have entered into the arena of e-commerce based business practices. E-commerce successfully propelled the online business for about more than a decade, with Amazon and eBay starting out as early in 1995 setting the early benchmarks for many follow up online businesses focusing on business to consumers (B2C) services.

While building these online transaction platforms , nobody would have ever thought that they will rise incessantly and occupy a major share in the global consumer market. Well that was history, the current scenario for e-commerce based businesses is certainly promising but extremely competitive as the number of players are rising every quarter. Such a stiff competition in occupying customers, delivering innovative , cutting edge and cost effective consumer goods can be the breeding grounds for the future Intellectual Property conflicts.

One of the recent IP conflict that came into picture is the eBay v/s European brand owners trademark violation issue. It is evident that eBay is an e-commerce giant in conducting B2C online business successfully for over a decade and transacting in diverse range of consumer goods but at the same time the Brand owners in the European territories are unhappy with the way by which counterfeiting goods pave their way to the eBay platform and thereby highly affecting their overall brand sales. While eBay claimed to have developed a stringent anti-fraud policies for suppressing such conflicts in future but the luxury brand owners like L’Oreal, who filed a case against eBay at the European Court in May 2009, seems satisfied with the recent decision of the court holding eBay liable for trademark infringement committed by its users. The court's judgment could be accessed here.

This decision will certainly have a great impact on the European brand owners and will somehow lag the parallel importation or the grey market goods entering the European consumer markets. The court's decision in this favor also indicated that the national courts within EU will enforce suitable punishments if such online market platforms violate trademark rules and regulations. Looking at the rising numbers of online trademark infringements ,this decision of the court is certainly welcomed by the European brand owners who were battling for the online protection of their brands for quite some time. Hence, the e-commerce based platforms will certainly look closely into the aspects of Intellectual Property infringements and will ensure to develop stringent measures to curb such IP related infringement issues in the future and foster a great consumer – business relationship. 

(Image by Svilen Milev)

New poll of the week and Results

 New Poll of the week: " Do you think budding entrepreneurs should have priority towards focusing on Intellectual Property framework during the drafting stages of their business". You may access the poll here or you can scroll down the blog page and access the poll there.

Results for the last poll of the week: " Do you think there is a global need to hire efficient CIPOs (Chief Intellectual Property Officers) for managing IP strategy of a company " are as follows: 

1) 50 percent of the readers voted "Yes".

2) 50 percent of the readers voted "Can't say"

Readers may access the polls and voice their opinion.

(Image by Sigurd Decroos)

Start - ups and the role of Intellectual Property

Acknowledging the fact that there are several factors and ingredients involved in setting up a start-up venture , one prominent fact is that the key element in any start-up is the entrepreneur's Intellectual Property(IP). The IP is the key initiator for entrepreneur's access to financing and technology acknowledgment , which are instrumental in providing adequate thrust to start the venture. On the contrary some business strategists hold an opinion that start ups should make an early entry into the markets focusing upon addressing new market segments rather than entangling themselves into the patent filings and procedures. Well, from my point of view, I certainly don't buy that argument. All technology based start ups have one thing in common that is “ The new technology” itself. What's the idea behind spending huge bucks in creating ,distributing brands and targeting new customer bases when your technology itself stands unsecured from IP point of view.

How would a start up entrepreneur deal with the consequences of infringements and technology thefts by the ever growing competitive global market. The only way to ensure protection of your technology is by securing a “Patent right” on that. As early as an entrepreneur comes up with an idea to design a start up around a new technology , the next immediate step should be to file a provisional patent application followed by the complete specification later. Understand the utmost need of filing a patent application and securing an early priority date nationally or internationally because it might be possible that many other start- ups might be working on the similar technology and will be in the race of filing the patents themselves. Looking at the stiff global competition, entrepreneurs and inventors should aim for an early patent priority date to be in a profitable situation.

From business point of view, an early stage entrepreneur with an established patent portfolio will undoubtedly draw prominent attention for financing from the investors. Looking at the vast number opportunities which an entrepreneur enjoys after attaining IP rights on their respective technologies or inventions, I wouldn't mind spending an extra time to patent my technology. Start -up entrepreneurs can monetize heavily through their IP in the following forms : 1) Licensing their technologies with established companies , 2) Creating licensing Partnerships, 3) Selling their IP , 4) Reaping the benefits from royalties, 5) Damages awarded by infringements , 6)Using the IP itself . Thus, the right amount of money starts flowing in the start-up, just by the value of your intangible assets like IP. Therefore, the next time you think of launching your start -up , give a comprehensive thought on the benefits of Intellectual Property which could boost your start- up.

 (Image by Emil Bacik)

Poll of the week

Readers may log their entries in the "Poll of the week" created below  (scroll down towards right ). The results will be updated on the blog after a week. Keep in touch with these interesting polls and state your opinion about the latest trends in IPR.


(Image by Gary Mcinnes)