“Patent News Bulletin: Indian Patent Statistics, First Examination Report (FER) Statistics, Industrial Design Statistics, Draft Patent Rules, 2019, India joins three key WIPO International Classification Treaties, Nice Agreement, Vienna Agreement, Locarno Agreement, DC – MSME issues guidelines on IPR for MSME’s, Haryana State Electronics Development Corporation forms think-tank called Begin, PCT roving seminars 2019, Delhi High Court stops ZTT India from infringing Sterlite’s Patent, NATCO Pharma settles patent dispute with Onyx Therapeutics in US, Royal Enfield denies Flash Electronics’ allegations and other news updates,” presented by the Patent attorneys and experts of BananaIP Counsels, India’s leading Patent Firm.
Quote of the Week
“Government funding for patent filings and grants has so far not proved to be useful in promoting inventive activity among startups and MSMEs. Judging the effectiveness of the program based on number of patents reimbursed or funded can be misleading.” – Dr. Kalyan C. Kankanala, BananaIP Counsels.
Indian Patent Statistics
A total of 625 patent applications have been published in the 23rd issue of the Patent Journal, 2019. Out of the 625 applications published in the journal, 120 applications account for early publications while 505 applications account for ordinary publications or publications occurring after the 18 – month period. A total of 269 applications have been granted last week as compared to 493 grants in the week preceding the last thereby marking a decrease of about 45.43%.
Early Publications
| City | Previous Week | This Week | Percentage of change |
| Delhi | 34 | 7 | 79.41 decrease% |
| Mumbai | 1 | 55 | 5400% increase |
| Chennai | 3 | 54 | 1700% increase |
| Kolkata | — | 4 | — |
| Total | 38 | 120 | 215.78% increase |
Ordinary Publications
| City | Previous Week | This Week | Percentage of change |
| Delhi | 420 | 326 | 22.38% decrease |
| Mumbai | 67 | 67 | 42.55% increase |
| Chennai | 237 | 98 | 58.64% decrease |
| Kolkata | 27 | 14 | 48.14% decrease |
| Total | 751 | 505 | 32.75% decrease |
TOTAL PUBLICATIONS (Previous Week): 789
TOTAL PUBLICATIONS (This Week): 625
Percentage difference: 20.78% decrease
First Examination Report (FER) Statistics
A total of 1993 FER’s have been issued last week. Applicants and their agents can check if any of their patent applications have been examined by referring to the journal available here.
| City | No. of FER Issued |
| Delhi | 732 |
| Mumbai | 328 |
| Chennai | 642 |
| Kolkata | 291 |
| Total | 1993 |
PUBLICATIONS UNDER GRANT
| City | Previous Week | This Week | Percentage of change |
| Delhi | 218 | 103 | 52.75% increase |
| Mumbai | 68 | 43 | 36.76% decrease |
| Chennai | 146 | 84 | 42.46% decrease |
| Kolkata | 61 | 39 | 36.06% decrease |
| Total | 493 | 269 | 45.43% decrease |
Number of Applications published based on Applicant city
Of the total 625 patent applications published in the journal last week, Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Kolkata have contributed a total of 140 applications. The total applications from each of the previously mentioned cities are as follows – 68 applications from Delhi, 11 applications from Bangalore, 26 applications from Chennai, 14 applications from Hyderabad, 4 applications from Kolkata and 17 application from Mumbai.
| List of Cities | 1st January 2019 to 7th June 2019 | 31st May 2019 – 7th June 2019 |
| Delhi | 559 | 68 |
| Mumbai | 299 | 17 |
| Bangalore | 599 | 11 |
| Chennai | 570 | 26 |
| Hyderabad | 198 | 14 |
| Kolkata | 128 | 4 |
Total number of applications published by the Indian Patent Office from the 1st of January 2019 till date: 18566
- Early publications: 1995
- Ordinary Publications: 16571
Total number of patents granted by the Indian Patent Office from the 1st of January 2019 till date: 8672
- Delhi – 3140
- Mumbai – 1225
- Chennai – 2850
- Kolkata – 1457
Indian Industrial Design Statistics
The designs office has registered a total of 232 designs this week. The total designs registered from the 1st of January 2019 till date now adds to a total of 6433 applications.
Total designs registered in the previous Week: 207
Total designs registered this Week: 232
Percentage Difference: 12.07% increase
Total designs registered from the 1st of January 2019 till date: 6433
Indian Patent Updates
Draft Patent Rules, 2019
On 31st May, 2019, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and the Department of Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) published a draft of the amended Patent Rules, 2019. The draft patent rules, 2019 proposes amendments to sub-rules 2 and 3 of rule 21 and sub-rule 2 of rule 131. While rule 21 deals with filing of priority documents, rule 131 deals with the submission of statement of working of patents. The draft rules may be accessed here. Objections or suggestions, if any, may be addressed to Shri Sushil K Satpute, Director, DPIIT, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India, Udyog Bhawan, New Delhi-110011 or by e-mail at sushil.satpute@nic.in
India joins three key WIPO International Classification Treaties
On June 7th, 2019, India formally deposited Instruments of Accession to the Nice Agreement, Vienna Agreement and the Locarno Agreement with the United Nations and other International Organizations, at Geneva. Director of WIPO, Francis Gurry expressed his delight as he received the Instruments from Ambassador Rajiv K. Chander, Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations and other International Organizations. The Ambassador said “This is a big event in India’s intellectual property rights space. In recent years, we have had a substantial jump in the Global Innovation Index ranking of India. This also shows that our relations with WIPO are getting stronger…”
The Vienna Agreement establishes a classification called the Vienna Classification for trademarks that contain figurative elements. It facilitates trademark application searches, simplifies and eliminates the need for reclassification of documents when exchanged at the international level. India is the 34th Member to join the Agreement. The Nice Agreement on the other hand provides for the establishment of a system called the Nice Classification. The Classification of goods and services enables registration of trademarks and service marks. India is the 88th member to this Agreement. With regard to Industrial Designs, the Locarno Agreement provides for a system of Classification to offer protection to designs. India is the 57th member to this Agreement.
DC – MSME issues guidelines on IPR for MSME’s
In order to encourage and promote awareness with regard to the benefits associated with intellectual property rights, the Development Commissioner of Micro Small Medium Enterprises (DC- MSME) issued guidelines on “Implementation of the Scheme Building Awareness on Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) for MSME’s.” The National Monitoring and Implementing Unit (NMIU) will work in order to ensure correct implementation of the guidelines. The guideline provides detailed provisions where MSME’s intend to reimburse the costs incurred in the process of filing Patent and Trademark Applications. All MSME’s are required to have a valid Udyog Aadhar Certificate and must be registered in the MSME – Data Bank in order to make use of the reimbursement facility. Applicants can apply for the same through the online portal – https://msme.gov.in. Click here in order to access the complete guidelines.
Haryana State Electronics Development Corporation forms think-tank called Begin
Haryana State Electronics Development Corporation (HARTRON) has established a think- tank for Startups, named Begin. The think – tank will house field experts from diverse professions that include lawyers and Intellectual Property (IP) experts. The experts will provide their assistance is determining legal and technical problems in relation to patents and other forms of intellectual property. The objective is to enable a strong startup ecosystem in the state. Rajiv Gulati, the man incharge of the Begin, said “In a short span of time, HARTRON has been able to bring innovative startups together at the warehouse where they are working on diverse services and products. Our objective is to help them focus on essentials like digital preparedness, IP norms patents and other legal aspects.” In order to celebrate the establishment of Begin, a seminar on “Future of Digital Forensics” was conducted, at the center.
PCT roving seminars 2019
The Indian Patent Office in collaboration with the WIPO and in association with Industry Associations, ASSOCHAM, FICCI & KIIT is organizing four Roving Seminars in India as part of WIPO’s ongoing support, to promote the awareness in respect of protecting the intellectual property and innovations globally through Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT). Experts from WIPO & IP offices will present an overview of the PCT system and its advantages for the applicants, the patent Offices and the general public. The roving seminars will also be the occasion to help Indian users to create their accounts and to access the ePCT system and other patent tools, which allows users to file and manage their international applications online.
Any interested users, stakeholders, applicants, innovators, members of MSME, academic Institutions, R&D organization and other scientific organization are invited to participate at any of the following locations – Dehradun, Lucknow, Kolkata and Bhubaneshwar. Contact details of the local coordinators and the program schedule may be accessed here.
For any clarifications, you may contact Ms Bimi G B, Assistant Controller of Patents & Designs, Incharge Receiving Office, Patent Office, Delhi at email bimigb.ipo@nic.in or Dr Rajesh Dixit, Deputy Controller of Patents & Designs, Incharge ISA, Patent Office, Delhi at email dixit.rajesh@nic.in
Patent / Design Infringements, Disputes, Licensing and Settlement
Delhi High Court stops ZTT India from infringing Sterlite’s Patent
The Delhi High Court, in an interim order, has restrained ZTT India Pvt Ltd, a subsidiary of China based Jiangsu Zhongtian Technology Co., Ltd. (ZTT China) from marketing optical fibres manufactured using technology patented by Sterlite Technologies Ltd. Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw in his ruling observed that “Each defendant, in its heart, knows the truth and if in spite of knowing that it is in infringement, violates the interim order, will, besides taking the risk of financial liability, also run the risk of penal consequences,”
Judgment copy available at https://indiankanoon.org/doc/100652936/
NATCO Pharma settles patent dispute with Onyx Therapeutics in US
NATCO Pharma Limited last week announced that it has reached a Settlement Agreement with Onyx Therapeutics, Inc. on patent litigation related to generic versions of 10mg, 30mg and 60mg of Kyprolis®. By virtue of the settlement, NATCO and Breckenridge have been granted a license permitting the launch of their generic carfilzomib injection. Kyprolis® (carfilzomib) is an anti-cancer drug and prescription medication used to treat patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma who have received one to three previous treatments for multiple myeloma.
Royal Enfield denies Flash Electronics’ allegations
Royal Enfield in its latest statement has denied all allegations by Flash Electronics that the former is guilty of infringing patents owned by Flash Electronics in relation to one of the components used in some Royal Enfield models. Royal Enfield has said that the component in question is supplied by a proprietary supplier which independently develops and owns the intellectual property (IP) rights to the component in question. The issue came to the forefront after Flash Electronics filed a lawsuit in the US for patent infringement of the regulator rectifier device that Flash claims was its invention and has been used on certain Royal Enfield motorcycles.
Authored and compiled by Vibha Amarnath & Gaurav Mishra
About BIP’s Patent Attorneys
The patent news bulletin is brought to you by the patent division of BananaIP Counsels, a top patent and IP firm in India. 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, to name a few. The patent attorneys at BIP have strong technical and legal expertise in areas such as IT/Software, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning, Data Analytics, Electronics and Telecommunication, Mechanical, Automotive, Green Energy, Traditional Medicine and Bio/Pharma domains. The firm is a first choice for clients looking for support in patent filing, prosecution, management and strategy in India, and across the world.
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