“Indian patent statistics, Interesting inventions, DIPP Secretary states that a new Industrial Policy will soon be in place, L’Oréal sues Drunk Elephant, UK Supreme Court dismisses Pfizer’s patent claim on pregabalin, Apple versus Qualcomm – No Settlement Talks are on, IP Awareness Summit (IPAS), 2018 to be hosted by CIPU, in late November, EPO hosts the 28th Annual Patent Information Conference in Brussels and other Weekly Patent News updates,” presented by the Patent attorneys and experts of BananaIP Counsels, India’s leading Patent Firm.
Design Quote of the Week
“Design is thinking made visual.” – Saul Bass, American graphic designer and Academy Award winning filmmaker, best known for his design of motion-picture title sequences, film posters, and corporate logos.
Indian Patent Statistics
A total of 860 patent applications have been published in the 46th issue of the patent journal. Out of the 860 applications, 75 applications account for early publications while 785 applications account for ordinary publications or publications occurring after the 18-month period. A total of 163 applications have been granted this week thereby marking a decrease of about 56.64% in total grants as compared to the preceding week.
Early Publications
| City | Previous Week | This Week | Percentage of change |
| Delhi | 1 | 7 | 600% increase |
| Mumbai | 5 | 3 | 40% decrease |
| Chennai | 47 | 53 | 12.76% increase |
| Kolkata | 1 | 12 | 1100% increase |
| Total | 54 | 75 | 38.88% increase |
Ordinary Publications
| City | Previous Week | This Week | Percentage of change |
| Delhi | 316 | 284 | 10.12% decrease |
| Mumbai | 14 | 148 | 957.14% increase |
| Chennai | 141 | 233 | 65.24% increase |
| Kolkata | 15 | 120 | 700% increase |
| Total | 486 | 785 | 61.52% increase |
TOTAL PUBLICATIONS (Previous Week): 540
TOTAL PUBLICATIONS (This Week): 860
Percentage difference: 59.25% increase
First Examination Report (FER) Statistics
A total of 607 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 | 182 |
| Mumbai | 90 |
| Chennai | 241 |
| Kolkata | 94 |
| Total | 607 |
PUBLICATIONS UNDER GRANT
| City | Previous Week | This Week | Percentage of change |
| Delhi | 118 | 45 | 61.86% decrease |
| Mumbai | 52 | 19 | 63.46% decrease |
| Chennai | 118 | 69 | 41.52% decrease |
| Kolkata | 88 | 30 | 65.90% decrease |
| Total | 376 | 163 | 56.64% decrease |
Number of Applications published based on applicant city
Of the total 860 patent applications published in the journal last week, Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Kolkata have contributed a total of 104 applications. The total applications from each of the previously mentioned cities are as follows – 26 applications from Bangalore, 11 applications from Mumbai, 19 applications from Delhi, 34 applications from Chennai, 9 applications from Hyderabad and 5 applications from Kolkata..
| List of Cities | 1st January 2018 – 16th November 2018 | 10th November 2018 – 16th November 2018 |
| Delhi | 930 | 15 |
| Mumbai | 813 | 12 |
| Bangalore | 1013 | 4 |
| Chennai | 668 | 32 |
| Hyderabad | 438 | 9 |
| Kolkata | 237 | 3 |
Total number of applications published by the Indian Patent Office from the 1st of January 2018 till date: 34397
- Early publications: 3303
- Ordinary Publications: 31569
Total number of patents granted by the Indian Patent Office from the 1st of January 2018 till date: 11822
- Delhi – 4400
- Mumbai – 1488
- Chennai – 3779
- Kolkata – 2345
Indian Industrial Designs Statistics
The designs office has registered a total of 144 designs this week. The total designs registered from the 1st of January 2018 till date now adds to a total of 7333 applications.
Total designs registered in the previous Week: 140
Total designs registered this Week: 144
Percentage Difference: 2.85% increase
Total designs registered from the 1st of January 2018 till date: 7333
Interesting Inventions of the Week
Invention 1 – SELF ASSISTIVE BRAIN/BODY CONTROL PHYSIOTHERAPY DEVICE
Patent Application No.: 201841042113
Applicant: Dr. Jacob Sunil
Abstract: “A Muscle machine interface for assisting paralyzed person (MMIP) is a multifunctional system. It will assist a person with immovable parts. The proposed work is an EEG based MMIP designed for automatic classification of N-dimensional muscle movements. The goal of the proposed research is to assist paralyzed person move their parts without any physical assistant. The controlling person that is normal human action will be mimicked by controlled person that is paralyzed person. The research work is divided into two phases. In the first phase we will build an intuitive control system for operation. In the second phase the project will be tested on paralyzed person.” (The abstract has been provided as is and has not been corrected for errors)
Invention 2 – A DEVICE FOR PREVENTING EXTREME CLIMATIC CONDITIONS
Patent Application No.: 201741016558
Applicant: K. Saravanan
Abstract: “The present invention discloses a system and a method for protecting vegetation plants and crops from environmental conditions. The system comprises a solar laminate including a set of solar cell arrays in a matrix arrangement, a frame attached to the edges of the solar laminate to provide a structural support to the solar laminate, several pipes attached the solar laminate to provide a conduit for collecting a rainwater incident on the solar laminate, and several support rods attached to a lower surface of the solar laminate at predefined locations, and each support rod is configured to hold the solar laminate at a predefined inclination to a ground level” (The abstract has been provided as is and has not been corrected for errors)
Invention 3 – SKATE BIKE
Patent Application No.:
Applicant: Adarsha Hiriyannaiah at al.
Abstract: “The invention provides a skate bike. The bike comprises single rear wheel, electric motor driving the rear wheel , a handlebar at the front end, the rider™s feet rest on skates forming a tadpole tricycle formation. The coupling of rear wheel by direct shaft or by chain. The combination of skates and rear wheel makes the configuration similar to a tadpole tricycle formation for balanced movement of skate bike. The speed of the bike is controlled by a throttle kit controlling the speed of the motor” (The abstract has been provided as is and has not been corrected for errors)
Indian Patent Updates
DIPP Secretary states that a new Industrial Policy will soon be in place
The Central Government revealed that a new Industrial Policy will soon replace the existing Industrial Policy of 1991. The Secretary of the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) said that the finalized draft of the Policy highlights the importance of protecting news inventions and designs, paving the path to establish a National Design Centre. He also added that improving the enforcement of intellectual property rights was of utmost importance at the time of framing the policy as their objective was to ensure easy transfer of advanced technology. The new Policy is expected to be in place by early 2019.
Patent /Design Infringements, Disputes, Licensing and Settlements
L’Oréal sues Drunk Elephant
L’Oréal, the multinational beauty brand has filed a patent infringement suit against a startup called Drunk Elephant for allegedly infringing the company’s patent on Skinceuticals serum. Drunk Elephant’s C-Firma serum is priced at 166 dollars which is about half the price at which L’Oréal’s sells its vitamin C serum called Skinceuticals. has been widely hailed by skincare fans and publications as a cheaper alternative to Skinceuticals’ cult-favorite vitamin C serum Drunk Elephant’s C-Firma serum.
UK Supreme Court dismisses Pfizer’s patent claim on pregabalin
Pfizer appears to have the lost a lengthy patent battle in UK after the Apex Court dismissed a bid by the drug company to strengthen the patent protection of Lyrica generically known as pregabalin. Lyrica was originally developed for epilepsy but further research showed it could also help patients suffering from neuropathic pain which is now the drugs main market.
In a bid to protect this lucrative section of the market, Pfizer secured a secondary patent, valid beyond the life of the original one. But the Supreme Court, has ruled that the secondary patent claims relevant to neuropathic pain are invalid. This decision comes as a major win for generic drug companies Actavis, now renamed Allergan, and Mylan.
Apple versus Qualcomm – No Settlement Talks are on
Apple and Qualcomm have separately clarified that the companies are not at any level of talks with each other for settlement of outstanding patent disputes. For the uninitiated with this topic, the Apple legal dispute with Qualcomm started in the early of 2017, when Qualcomm was sued by Apple in a federal court in San Diego. The company claimed that it was wrong for Qualcomm Inc to continue to take a cut out of the selling price of the phones because a patent license fee was illegal. Qualcomm in turn claimed that Apple owed the company $7 billion in unpaid royalties. It also requested the International Trade Commission to place a ban on iPhones which make use of cellular baseband processors, instead of using those that are supplied by affiliates of Qualcomm.
International Patent News
IP Awareness Summit (IPAS), 2018 to be hosted by CIPU, in late November
The Center for Intellectual Property Understanding (CIPU) in partnership with Columbia University and Columbia Technology Ventures will host the Second Annual IP Awareness Summit on 29th November, 2018. The Summit aims to increase IP literacy among the general public by keeping in mind, the potential impact that it could have on their lives. The objective of the forum is to provide the audience with sufficient information to make informed decisions with matters related to Intellectual Property. The conference will also have an Audience Workshop where a basic understanding of these rights will be given to educators and owners of IP. In addition to this, a Keynote Presentation will be delivered by Jay Scott Walker, a top notch Inventor and Entrepreneur in the USA. Lastly, the existing IP laws in USA, Europe and Asia will be discussed and examined. The roles of International Organizations like WIPO and influential Patent Office’s like the USPTO and the UK IPO will also be deliberated.
EPO hosts the 28th Annual Patent Information Conference in Brussels
The European Patent Office held the Annual Patent Information Conference in Brussels between 12th and 14th November, 2018. The 28th edition of the conference began with a welcome address delivered by Kris Peeters, the Deputy Prime Minister of EPO, where he said “An important part of stimulating innovation is protecting innovation. Protecting Intellectual Property is important, which is why it is my great pleasure to welcome you to Brussels.” The Conference consisted of a number of events including panel discussions, training sessions and presentations in the fields of AI, block-chain, patent analytics and many more. It gave the Delegates an opportunity to understand and track the future of patents and their power to impact future development of the world.
2018 marked an important year for the EPO as Espacenet was launched 20 years ago and the European Patent Information Policy was created 30 years ago.
Compiling Authors: Vibha Amarnath and Shravani Damodara
About 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;
