In this week’s Patent News – Court rules in favor of Garmin in patent suit involving Philips; USITC steps into the Ericsson versus Samsung dispute; EPO and CIPO make their PPH fast-track programme permanent; EU Parliamentarians back India – South Africa proposal on patent waivers for COVID-Vaccine; IPO’s Top 300 listing ranks International Business Machines (IBM) #1 and Samsung at #2; EPO publishes study on economic benefits of owning intellectual property rights – especially for small businesses;
PATENT INFRINGEMENT NEWS
Court rules in favor of Garmin in patent suit involving Philips
An Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) at the International Trade Commission (ITC) ruled in favor of Garmin, the famous wearable devices manufacturer after the company was accused of infringing some of Philips’ patents on wearable devices. In the initial determination issued on the 4th of February 2021, the Judge found that Philips’ asserted patents were invalid and did not cover Garmin’s popular wearable devices.
USITC steps into the Ericsson versus Samsung dispute
The US International Trade Commission (USITC) has launched an investigation into the suit involving Ericsson and Samsung Electronics. The investigation has been launched after Ericsson filed a complaint with the ITC earlier in January this year accusing Samsung Electronics of illegally using its wireless communication patents for its mobile phones, tablet PCs and smart TVs. The complaint filed with the USITC reportedly seeks a limited exclusion order and cease and desist order against the South Korean electronics major. Ericsson is reportedly suing Samsung in Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands over similar patent infringement issues.
INTERNATIONAL PATENT NEWS UPDATES
EPO and CIPO make their PPH fast-track programme permanent
The EPO and the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) have announced that the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) programme between the two offices has become permanent from the 6th of January 2021. The offices have agreed to extend the agreement, following the completion of a pilot programme, which started in January 2015.
The PPH enables applicants filing a patent at either the EPO and CIPO to have their application processed faster at the other office.
To read more about this, click here.
EU Parliamentarians back India – South Africa proposal on patent waivers for COVID-Vaccine
14 members of the European Parliament have backed a joint proposal by India and South Africa for waiver on intellectual property rights for COVID-19 vaccine patents. The proposal jointly oved by India and South Africa requests a waiver to be granted to WTO members so that they do not have to implement, apply or enforce certain obligations related to COVID-19 products and technologies.
The members in their letter have asked “the European Union to evaluate to support the adoption of a moratorium that allows the suspension of patents and the sharing of technology, data, know-how, allowing generics manufacturers to contribute to increasing global availability, including through support for India and South Africa’s proposal at the WTO”
IPO’s Top 300 listing ranks International Business Machines (IBM) #1 and Samsung at #2
The Intellectual Property Owners Association (IPO) in its 38th annual listing of the Top 300 organizations that have been granted U.S. patents in 2020 have ranked International Business Machines (IBM) as the top recipient of U.S. patents last year. While IBM topped the list with 9,435 grants in 2020, Samsung came in at second with 8,539 U.S. patent grants last year.
The top ten companies by number of grants in 2020 are:
- IBM
- Samsung Electronics
- LG Corporation
- Canon
- Intel
- Raytheon technologies
- Huawei Technologies
- Microsoft
- Taiwan Semiconductor MFG. Co.; and
- Sony Corporation
You may access the full listing here.
EPO publishes study on economic benefits of owning intellectual property rights – especially for small businesses
The European Patent Office (EPO) and the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) have released a new study today which shows that companies which own at least one patent, registered design or trade mark generate on average 20% higher revenues per employee than companies which do not own any of those intellectual property rights (IPRs).
You may read more about this study here.
Click here to access the study report.
Authored and compiled by Gaurav Mishra
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