Reduction in Patent fees, Faster patent grants now? New WIPO IP Portal and more

Ministry proposes to slash patent fees for MSME, Patent Rules Amended – Expedited examination option now available to women applicant, Government institutes and others, BEL establishes Product Development and Innovation Centre (PD & IC), in Bangalore, IBM files patent infringement suit against Zillow, European Commission releases Intellectual Property Rights Report 2019.

Patent News Updates from India

Ministry proposes to slash patent fees for MSME
Piyush Goyal, the Minister for Commerce and Industry tabled a proposal last week to reduce the patent & design fees for MSME’s. According to the release from the Press Information Bureau, the Government intends to cut down fees for MSME’s by a significant 60%. Under the proposal, MSME’s will be required to pay the same fees as is currently being charged to startups and Individual applicants.
The proposed fee table is given below.

IPR	Activity	Category	Current Fees	Proposed Fees	Reduction (%)
Patents	Filing	MSME	4000/- 4400/-	1600/- 1750/-	60
	Request for examination		10000/- 11000/-	4000/- 4400/-	60
	Expedited examination (only-e-filing)		25000/-	8000	68
	Renewal		2000 to 20000 (+10% for physical filing)	800 to 8000 (+10% for physical filing)
Designs	Filing	MSME/Startup	2000	1000	50

Patent Rules Amended – Expedited examination option now available to women applicants, Government institutes and others  
Nine months after the Central government first notified the draft Patents (Amendment) Rules, 2018 on the 4^th of December 2018, the Patents (Amendment) Rules, 2019 have now come into effect through a notification by the Central Government on the 18^th of September 2019 in its official gazette. In line with the draft rules, the new rules now primarily entitle the following categories of patent applicants to seek expedited examination of their patent applications:

1. Small entities / MSME’s;
2. Female applicants;
3. Departments of the Government;
4. Institutions owned or controlled by the Government;
5. Institutions wholly or substantially financed by the Government;
6. Government companies; and
7. Applicants of those countries whose patent offices are in an agreement / arrangement with the Indian patent office.

In addition to this certain fees will no longer be applicable, giving PCT applicants a reason to be cheerful about.
Read full post here.
BEL establishes Product Development and Innovation Centre (PD&IC), in Bangalore
Defence Minister, Rajnath Singh recently inaugurated the newly established Product Development and Innovation Centre (PD&IC), in Bangalore on 19^th September 2019. The Innovation Centre has been established by Bharath Electronics Limited (BEL) with an objective to mobilize the creation of Intellectual Property and simultaneously emphasize on the reduction of dependency on important standardization of systems and its counterparts. PD&IC will add value to the Make in India initiative of the government by offering an easy single window interface for DRDO as well as other Research and Development institutions in the country. It will also enhance the involvement of start-ups and MSME’s in the field of Transfer of Technology (ToT), making them self -reliant.

Patent Disputes / Infringements / Settlements/ Licensing

IBM files patent infringement suit against Zillow
On 20^th September 2019, IBM instituted a suit for patent infringement on Zillow, a real estate company. IBM has alleged that Zillow has unlawfully used IBM’s patented technology on its website to calculate the price of a house and another search function. The company has named 7 patents in the lawsuit instituted in California. IBM said that the company has made numerous efforts to enter into a licensing agreement with Zillow, in the last three years. On failing to establish a deal, IBM was left with no option but to enforce its intellectual property right.

International Patent News

European Commission releases Intellectual Property Rights Report 2019
The European Commission recently released the Intellectual Property Rights Report 2019 giving valuable insights on the number of counterfeit goods imported into the EU in the year 2018. Approximately 27 million products are said to have been detained by the Authorities on the account of infringement of Intellectual Property. The value of the detained articles is around 750 Million Euros. While comparing the rise in figures of infringement, 2017 had around 57,000 products detained whereas in 2018, 69,000 articles were withheld by the Authorities. Among the seized goods, cigarettes accounted for over 15% of the goods followed by toys and other packaging materials. Similar to last year, China remained on the forefront as the primary source of infringed goods followed by Turkey and North Macedonia.
Click here to access the complete report and here for highlights.
WIPO Launches New IP Portal

WIPO has launched its new IP Portal, a one-stop shop to the Organization’s full range of online intellectual property (IP) services. The new portal integrates WIPO’s IP services for patents, trademarks and industrial designs and includes several advanced key features such as Unified navigation, Single sign on, Modernized look and feel, Customized dashboard, Streamlined payments and Single messaging system.

Authored and compiled by Gaurav Mishra and Vibha Amarnath
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