In this week’s patent news – Delhi High Court notifies final Intellectual Property Rights Division Rules 2022 and Rules Governing Patent Suits 2022; Need for Stronger Enforcement Provisions in cases of IPR Infringement, says CJI NV Ramana; EU files case against China at WTO; No company currently dominates the 5G technology realm, says USPTO; Activision and Blizzard settle patent dispute; European Commission to consider new time limits for FRAND licensing negotiations; ICC Centre of Entrepreneurship and WIPO collaborate to empower innovation in entrepreneurship; VideoLabs Inc. sues Netflix over Digital Video Patent Infringement.
Indian Patent News Updates:
Delhi High Court notifies final Intellectual Property Rights Division Rules 2022 and Rules Governing Patent Suits 2022
The Delhi High Court last week notified the ‘Delhi High Court Intellectual Property Rights Division Rules 2022’ and the ‘High Court of Delhi Rules Governing Patent Suits 2022’. The first draft of these rules was released on October 27th, 2020, and after receiving comments regarding the same, changes were made, and the final draft was composed accordingly.
The High Court of Delhi has exercised its power under Section 7 of the Delhi High Court Act; Section 129 of the Code of Civil Procedure and powers granted to it through the Tribunal Reforms Act to introduce the IPRD Rules and Section 7 of the Delhi High Court Act; Section 158 of the Patents Act, Section 129 of the Code of Civil Procedure and provisions of the Tribunal Reforms Act for the rules pertaining to patent suits.
The IPRD rules contain over 40 rules and two schedules which will hereby govern Civil Writ Petitions, CMM, RFAFAO on Intellectual Property disputes, barring those that are to be decided by a division bench.
The rules governing patent suits contain 17 rules which provide definitions, pleading content, first hearing of the suit, affidavit filing of admission/denial, second and third case management hearing, mediation, Scientific Advisor Panel, summary adjudication and final hearing clauses to name a few.
The Delhi High Court Intellectual Property Rights Division Rules, 2022 may be accessed here.
The High Court Of Delhi Rules Governing Patent Suits, 2022 may be accessed here.
Need for Stronger Enforcement Provisions in cases of IPR Infringement, says CJI NV Ramana
During the National Seminar on adjudication of IPR disputes in India, Chief Justice of India, NV Ramana expressed his views on the current situation revolving around IPR cases in the country.
“Provisions for stronger enforcement and action against infringement are the need of the hour”
“These new and additional challenges can be effectively met by strengthening the High Courts. Not only do we need to fill the existing vacancies on an urgent basis, but there is also a need to increase the number of judges. With better service conditions we may be able to attract more and more talents into our fold.
Judicial infrastructure needs to be improved. Unfortunately, we are not even meeting the basic minimum standards in this area. It has been my endeavour since assuming the office of Chief Justice of India, to put in place an institutional mechanism to co-ordinate and oversee the improvement of judicial infrastructure.
Mere allocation of funds is not enough. The challenge is to put the available resources to optimum use. I have been pursuing the government for setting up of statutory authorities, both at the centre and at the states”.
International Patent News Updates:
EU files case against China at WTO
The European Union (EU) has announced that it has filed a case against China at the World Trade Organization because of China’s restrictions against EU based companies which prevents them from approaching foreign courts in cases of patent protection and enforcement.
The EU claimed that China imposed severe fines on EU based companies that chose to enforce their technology patents (3G, 4G and 5G SEP patents) in foreign courts and thereby, pressurised them into entering subpar licensing fee settlements. The EU has also claimed to have reached out to China regarding this issue previously but received no viable solution from their end.
Dispute settlement consultations is the first step of WTO disputes and the EU has requested for the initiation of the same. If no solution is reached within 60 days, a panel can be setup by the WTO to rule on the matter.
For more information, please click here.
No company currently dominates the 5G technology realm, says USPTO
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) recently released a report claimeing that while there is global competition in the 5G innovation realm, there is no forerunner that dominates the market.
Qualcomm, Ericsson, Huawei, LG, Nokia, and Samsung have consistently filed 5G related patent applications in the last decade but none of them have currently emerged as the industry leader.
From 2010-2021, four critical 5G technologies have been prioritised in terms of patent applications and they are as follows – (1) management of local wireless resources; (2) multiple use of transmission path; (3) radio transmission systems; and (4) information error detection or error correction in transmission systems.
For more information, please click here.
Activision and Blizzard settle patent dispute
Gaming majors – Activision and Blizzard have settled a long-standing patent dispute over the latter’s game launching system. On 21st February 2022, Activision informed the court in Austin, Texas that it had reached a settlement with Blizzard, but refrained from providing additional details.
Activision had initially sued Blizzard Entertainment in 2014 over its game launcher and system which allegedly infringed on its patent pertaining to storing and accessing data. In 2019, a court ruled in favour of Blizzard only for the case to be taken up for appeal in 2020. The case was in the midst of a trial again and has now been withdrawn as part of the settlement.
European Commission to consider new time limits for FRAND licensing negotiations
The European Commission has issued a call for evidence regarding the time limits on various stages of negotiations for standard-essential patents. The Commission aims to ‘promote an efficient and sustainable SEP licensing ecosystem’ and is seeking views from the public regarding the same.
The feedback time period is as follows – 14 February 2022 – 09 May 2022 (midnight Brussels time).
For more information, please click here.
ICC Centre of Entrepreneurship and WIPO collaborate to empower innovation in entrepreneurship
The Centre of Entrepreneurship of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC CoE) and WIPO have announced that the two would be partnering together to help entrepreneurs in navigating IP regulations and better manage their intangible assets. According to the ICC’s official announcement “As part of the partnership with WIPO, the ICC Centre of Entrepreneurship will host a series of workshops to discuss the needs of entrepreneurs and MSMEs,and provide practical guidance on how to understand and better use intellectual property protection. The workshops will also include a presentation of the diagnostics tool and practical cases to help entrepreneurs explore this important part of their business.”
The WIPO IP Diagnostic Tool, which has been developed by WIPO’s IP for Business team, is a self-assessment IP tool which helps users identify the IP assets they may have and how they can how they may protect, manage and exploit these assets.
The dates for the 1st workshop for South East Asia is yet to be confirmed but may be slated for sometime in June or July of this year.
For more information, please click here.
VideoLabs Inc. sues Netflix over Digital Video Patent Infringement
A US based IP services company, VideoLabs Inc. along with VL Collective IP LLC has initiated legal proceedings against Netflix Inc. accusing the video streaming major of wilfully infringing the former’s patents on digital video technology.
VideoLabs Inc. in its complaint stated that Netflix has wilfully infringed on atleast three of the former’s patents and has until date refused to negotiate on the licensing of the patented technology.
For more information, the copy of the plaint may be accessed here.
Authored and Compiled by Chanda S & Vivek Basangoudar
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