Intellectual Property Archives | Page 35 of 55

IP in Everyday Life – Aircraft Seat Belts

First Publication Date: 7th June 2010 Most of us fly frequently. But, we might not have paid attention to the most vital piece of safety equipment for a passenger; the seat belt. If you flip the receptacle portion of the belt, you will see a notice which states "Patent 5088160". The referred patent is assigned to Am-safe, Inc and was filed on February 5, 1990 (and has subsequently expired on February 5, 2010). The two independent claims are as follows: Claim 1: A webbing…

November 29, 2018 BananaIP Reporter Intellectual Property, Patents 0Comment 939Views 0Like

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Synthetic cell: Patent or No Patent?

First Publication Date: 27th May 2010. After reading today’s article titled “Patent-run for synthetic life form could be ‘damaging’, says Brit scientist” I thought I was having a Déjà vu. Looks like, once again, history repeats itself. Have you ever wondered as to why every time there is substantial progress in the field of Synthetic biology, we get mixed reactions? We are happy about the progress but when it comes to rewarding a patent to the inventors for the progress,…

November 28, 2018 BananaIP Reporter Intellectual Property, Patents 0Comment 815Views 0Like

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Natural or Man Made

This post was first published on April 4, 2010. This is in furtherance of Mrs. Vinita Radhakrishnan's post regarding the US District Court decision on BRCA gene patents. Under the US Patent Law, anything that exists in nature is not patentable subject matter. This is also referred to as 'Product of Nature Doctrine'. The test for determining whether something exists in nature or not as laid down in Chakrabarty's case is whether a hand of man is involved in creating…

November 27, 2018 BananaIP Reporter Intellectual Property, Patents 0Comment 870Views 0Like

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The Gene Returns to its Body

This post was first published on April 1, 2010. I’m still in denial of the summary judgment ruling provided by Judge Robert W. Sweet of United States District Court for the Southern District of New York in Association for Molecular Pathology v. USPTO on March 29th 2010. Looks like all that I read, understood and was convinced that gene patents demands a revisit. The 156 pages summary judgment that was issued on this Monday has for sure taken me by surprise.…

November 27, 2018 BananaIP Reporter Intellectual Property, Patents 0Comment 997Views 0Like

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Role of IP Policy in a Knowledge-Driven Company

This post was first published on March 26, 2010. An Intellectual Property (IP) Policy setting out the IP goals of a company in the light of its business goals plays a very important role in enabling the company to acquire competitive advantage from its IP. The IP Policy must lay down the framework in light of the company's IP strategy. Most IP policies cover aspects such as generation, protection, ownership, utilization, management, and commercialization of IP. They also include…

November 27, 2018 BananaIP Reporter Intellectual Property 0Comment 801Views 0Like

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Claiming with a Purpose, with the Blessings of the Inventor

This post was first published on March 1, 2010. Claims draw the boundary to the invention that is being claimed. The boundary that is being drawn must be carefully done in order to ensure that the claims serve their purpose. The point here is that every claim must have a specific purpose and must be targeted to a potentially infringing product or process, or be targeted to protect a specific implementation (in case of defensive approach). In order for the practitioner…

November 27, 2018 BananaIP Reporter Intellectual Property, Patents 0Comment 813Views 0Like

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Something More About Swiss Type Claims

This post was first published on February 25, 2010. On reading Siddharth’s post on the 19th February decision (G02/08) from the Enlarged Board of Appeal regarding the Swiss type claims, I got motivated to write something about the Swiss type claims and the reason for its birth and death. Like in India, Method of Treatment and Method of diagnosis (in vivo) has always been non patentable subject matter in Europe (Article 52(4)). Furthermore, before the concept of Absolute Novelty was introduced by…

November 27, 2018 BananaIP Reporter Intellectual Property, Patents 0Comment 994Views 0Like

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Swiss Claims are History!

This post was first published on February 24, 2010. If the 19th February decision (G02/08) from the Enlarged Board of Appeal (EBA) at the EPO is to be simplistically interpreted, “Swiss” Type claims are indeed history. As most of our readers must be aware of the nature of a “Swiss” type of claim language. A “Swiss” type claim is essentially used to cover the so called Second, Third and Subsequent uses/medical indications of a known substance or composition. Taking our readers a…

November 27, 2018 BananaIP Reporter Intellectual Property, Patents 0Comment 1661Views 0Like

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Using Open Source Software in Business

This post was first published on February 19, 2010. Open Source Software (OSS) has certain advantages when compared to proprietary software. It comes with the following benefits: a. The software may be downloaded for free; b. Source code of the software is available, which enables improvement and customization; c. The software generally has a community and the development is faster; d. Support and implementation services are available from multiple sources; and so on. As OSS always comes with a license, the…

November 26, 2018 BananaIP Reporter Copyrights, Intellectual Property, Open Source Licensing 0Comment 1571Views 0Like

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Story of an Unchallenged Patent: Certainly Uncertain

This post was first published on February 16, 2010. Enabling designing around existing patents to promote progress of Science and technology forms a small but a non trivial part of the rationale behind existence of the patent system. To be able to safely design around patents it is critical to be able to understand the scope of protection rendered to that patent. The best place to start is the claims of patent since it determines the metes and bounds of the patented…