“Happy New Year, Huge Backlog at Indian Patent Office, New Year Themed Patents, Green Patents, Nintendo loses appeal, IBM and Priceline Settle Patent Suit, Cryptocurrency Patents, Panasonic Patent License Agreement, 101 Rejection, Patent Tip of the Week 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
“Innovation and invention are not the same thing. A true innovation has market value. A patented invention may or may not.” – Jeremy De Beer (Award-winning professor at the University of Ottawa)
Indian Patent Statistics
With 2017 having drawn to a close, the patent and design statistics till 29th December 2017 are as follows. A total of 863 patent applications have been published between 22 December 2017 and 29 December 2017. Of the 863 patent applications, 49 applications account for early publications while 814 applications are ordinary publications or publications occurring after the 18 month period. Grants during this period have also decreased by over 11%
Early Publications
| City | Previous Week | This Week | Percentage of change |
| Delhi | 25 | 9 | 64% decrease |
| Mumbai | 44 | 24 | 45.45% decrease |
| Chennai | 30 | 15 | 50% decrease |
| Kolkata | 0 | 1 | – |
| Total | 99 | 49 | 50.51% decrease |
Ordinary Publications
| City | Previous Week | This Week | Percentage of change |
| Delhi | 444 | 557 | 25.45% increase |
| Mumbai | 131 | 144 | 9.92% increase |
| Chennai | 214 | 94 | 56.07% decrease |
| Kolkata | 12 | 19 | 58.33% increase |
| Total | 801 | 814 | 1.24% increase |
TOTAL PUBLICATIONS (Previous Week): 900
TOTAL PUBLICATIONS (This Week): 863
Percentage difference: 4.29% decrease
PUBLICATIONS UNDER GRANT
| City | Previous Week | This Week | Percentage of change |
| Delhi | 108 | 122 | 12.96% increase |
| Mumbai | 19 | 30 | 57.89% increase |
| Chennai | 110 | 74 | 32.73% decrease |
| Kolkata | 60 | 38 | 36.67% decrease |
| Total | 297 | 264 | 11.11% decrease |
Number of Applications published based on applicant city
Of the total 863 patent applications published between 23rd December 2017 and 29th December 2017, Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad and Kolkata have contributed a total of 86 applications. The total applications from each of the previously mentioned cities are as follows – 34 from Mumbai, 20 from Delhi, 12 from Chennai, 8 from Hyderabad, 7 from Bangalore and 5 from Kolkata.
| List of Cities | 1st January 2017 – 29th December 2017 | 23rd December 2017 to 29th December 2017 |
| Mumbai | 1632 | 34 |
| Bangalore | 1473 | 7 |
| Delhi | 876 | 20 |
| Chennai | 965 | 12 |
| Hyderabad | 579 | 8 |
| Kolkata | 422 | 5 |
Total number of applications published by the Indian Patent Office from the 1st of January 2017 till 29th December 2017: 38417
- Early publications: 3129
- Ordinary Publications: 35288
Total number of patents granted by the Indian Patent Office from the 1st of January 2017 to 29th December 2017: 13440
- Delhi – 5309
- Mumbai – 1324
- Chennai – 4343
- Kolkata – 2464
First Examination Report (FER) Statistics
A total of 1575 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 | 495 |
| Mumbai | 279 |
| Chennai | 570 |
| Kolkata | 231 |
| Total | 1575 |
Indian Industrial Designs Statistics
The designs office at Kolkata has registered a total of 170 designs last week. This marks a total decrease of 26.72%. The total designs registered from the 1st of January 2017 till date now adds to 9694 applications.
Total designs registered in the previous Week: 232
Total designs registered this Week: 170
Percentage Difference: 26.72% decrease
Total designs registered from the 1st of January 2017 to 29th December 2017
Interesting Patents & Designs
Happy New Year everyone! It’s quite evident that there are patents for almost anything you can think of, but patents relating to New Year? Sounds surprising right? Let’s take a look at some interesting patents and designs that are based on the theme of New Year.
Patent Application 1 – New year’s ball drop
Out with the old and in with the new. What better way to usher in, the New Year than lighting the skies and homes? This US patent application (US 10/749,307) promises to do just that. The New year’s ball drop discloses a New Year’s Ball that drops down a vertical support pole reaching the bottom at a predetermined time and thereby activates the lights on a year display sign and flashing the ball lights to announce the onset of the New Year’s Celebration.
The abstract of the patent application reads as follows: “The present invention 10 discloses a New Year’s celebrating device having a vertically standing support pole 16 having tracks 18 thereon upon which a movable ball 12 is slidably mounted. The ball 12 also has lights 14 there on. A New Year display sign 20 having lights 22 thereon. In operation, at a predetermined time, the ball 12 begins its descent from atop the pole 16. When the ball 12 reaches its destination at the bottom of the pole 16, the New Year display lights 22 light up and the ball lights 14 flash.” (The abstract has been taken from the patent specification as is and has not been corrected for errors.)
Patent Application 2 – Indoor Holiday Lights
The invention of US patent US 14/258,794 is certainly one to own. The invention as described by the patent specification relates to indoor holiday lights providing specially designed holiday lights and ornaments, with each adorned with a dazzling, electronic display screen that emits a scrolling message of holiday cheer.
The abstract of the patent reads as follows: “Indoor holiday lights comprising a strand of lights and ornaments wherein the ornaments comprise a specially designed picture frame inside of which the user can insert a favorite photograph or other printed image, wherein the picture frame is positioned on the surface of an ornament. Also provided is a strand of holiday lights further comprising an electronic scrolling banner that displays any number of holiday messages and offerings of good tidings and cheer options positioned below the frame.” (The abstract has been taken from the patent specification as is and has not been corrected for errors.)
On a separate note we came across a very interesting patent application in the official journal of patents published last week. This invention is called “GREEN BRICKS-BRICKS MADE FROM WASTE PLASTIC BAGS”. The Indian patent application 201721044040 has been filed by two individuals from Pune, Maharashtra. The abstract of the patent application reads as follows: “Basically plastic bags are used for numerous purposes but not all of them can be recycled so they end-up in landfills or stay littered on roads causing different types of pollution. Burning these plastics is not an effective way. Through this invention we are providing a way to recycle these pollution causing waste plastic bags by turning them into GREEN-BRICKS. These bricks/blocks are waterproof also they have high strength making them capable to bear heavy traffic also. They can help reduce the amount of waste plastic bags present in landfills by turning them into bricks/blocks. Also as they are waterproof they are expected to have a longer lifetime even if used in heavy rainfall region, thus making them more economical. If this material is used for making roads it can notably reduce the number of potholes formed during rains. These potholes cause numerous accidents also huge amount of money is spent later to repair these roads.” (The abstract has been taken from the patent specification as is and has not been corrected for errors.)
Government Updates on Patents
2.32 lakh patent applications pending with IPO
Minister of State for Commerce and Industry C R Chaudhary informed the Parliament that over 2.32 lakh patent applications are currently pending with the Indian Patent Office. The minister further informed the parliament that about 9,847 patents were granted by Indian Patent Office until the 30th of November 2017. While the number of pending patent applications has certainly reduced this year, the numbers are still a sorry figure. With a mere 543 examiners, the wait for a patent for many applicants does not seem to be getting any shorter.
Patent Disputes, Infringement and Settlements
Nintendo’s appeal against 10 million dollar verdict fails
The U.S. Court of Appeals recently issued its decision in the case of Nintendo versus iLife Technologies. The jury from the U.S. Court of Appeals found Nintendo guilty of infringing on iLife’s patent and upheld the Courts earlier decision to award 10 million dollars as damages to iLife.
iLife Technologies sued Nintendo back in 2013 over the accelerometer technology found in its Wii Remote, claiming that Nintendo had infringed on one of its motion technology patents.
IBM and Priceline settle patent infringement lawsuit
American multinational, IBM has announced that it has reached an agreement with The Priceline Group to resolve the patent lawsuit between the two companies pending in the United States District Court for Delaware. As part of the confidential settlement, the parties will obtain patent cross-licenses to each company’s worldwide patent portfolio, IBM said.
The case dates back to 2015 when IBM accused Priceline of violating patented technology that stretches back to the early days of the internet.
Patent Licensing, Commercialization, Acquisitions
Michigan company to purchase patent covering bitcoin ATM transactions
A little known company, DNA Dynamics Inc. has announced that its U.K. subsidiary, DNA Interactive Ltd., has signed binding term sheet to acquire a patent that requires bitcoin ATM operators to pay a royalty on every bitcoin ATM transaction conducted in the U.S.
Cryptocurrency is currently at the centre stage of global economics and a trend has set in where companies are seeking to build a portfolio of assets around cryptocurrency-related assets.
Panasonic and Rambus renew patent license agreement
American technology licensing company Rambus has renewed its patent license agreement with Panasonic. Under the terms of the five-year extension of Panasonic’s agreement, Rambus will license Panasonic a range of technologies to cover products that include SoCs with DRAM memory controllers.
International Patent & Design Updates
Eurasian Patent Office (EAPO) awards medal of the “50,000th Patent of EAPO”
Eurasian Patent Office (EAPO) , the regional organization which includes Turkmenistan, the Republic of Belarus, the Republic of Tajikistan, Russia, the Azerbaijan Republic, the Republic of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and the Republic of Armenia as its member states recently awarded a medal of the “50,000th Patent of EAPO” to Tsinghua University and Nuctech. The award signifies that the EAPO has granted 50,000 patents till date from the day of its formation in 1995.
BananaIP’s Patent Tip of the Week
What is a 101 Rejection under the US patent Law?
A 101 rejection is one of the most basic objections issued by the USPTO. The 101 rejection under the US patent law is in a sense what rejections under Section 3 is to the Indian Patent Law. 35 U.S.C. § 101 basically deals with Subject Matter Eligibility and reads as follows:- “Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.” While 101 talks about inventions patentable, Section 3 of The Patents Act, 1970 relates to inventions not patentable.
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 – contact@bananaip.com.
