“Indian patent statistics, Interesting inventions, DPCO Amendment, 2019 spares newly patented drugs from price control for a period of 5 years, Raisina Dialogue, 2019 hosted by the Ministry of External Affairs and ORF, AMD Sues Mediatek over claims of patent infringement, Supreme Court’s latest Judgment on Monsanto, Minerva Networks renews patent license agreement with TiVo Corporation, USPTO appoints new Deputy General Counsel for Intellectual Property Law and Solicitor, South Korea’s DAPA introduces a new IP regimen for the Military and other Weekly Patent News updates” presented by the Patent attorneys and experts of BananaIP Counsels, India’s leading Patent Firm.
Quote of the Week
“Patents are the key to our technology. Technology is the key to production.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Indian Patent Statistics
A total of 663 patent applications have been published in the 2nd issue of the Patent Journal, 2019. Out of the 663 applications, 66 applications account for early publications while 597 applications account for ordinary publications or publications occurring after the 18-month period. A total of 245 applications have been granted this week.
Early Publications
| City | Previous Week | This Week | Percentage of change |
| Delhi | 2 | 6 | 200% increase |
| Mumbai | 8 | 34 | 325% increase |
| Chennai | 24 | 25 | 4.17% increase |
| Kolkata | 0 | 1 | — |
| Total | 34 | 66 | 94.12% increase |
Ordinary Publications
| City | Previous Week | This Week | Percentage of change |
| Delhi | 570 | 180 | 68.42% decrease |
| Mumbai | 71 | 139 | 95.77% increase |
| Chennai | 209 | 270 | 29.19% increase |
| Kolkata | 15 | 8 | 46.67% decrease |
| Total | 865 | 597 | 30.98% decrease |
TOTAL PUBLICATIONS (Previous Week): 899
TOTAL PUBLICATIONS (This Week): 663
Percentage difference: 26.25% decrease
First Examination Report (FER) Statistics
A total 1207 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 | 406 |
| Mumbai | 207 |
| Chennai | 381 |
| Kolkata | 213 |
| Total | 1207 |
PUBLICATIONS UNDER GRANT
| City | Previous Week | This Week | Percentage of change |
| Delhi | 65 | 68 | 4.61% increase |
| Mumbai | 18 | 32 | 77.77% increase |
| Chennai | 93 | 91 | 2.15% decrease |
| Kolkata | 59 | 54 | 8.47% decrease |
| Total | 235 | 245 | 4.25 % increase |
Number of Applications published based on applicant city
Of the total 663 patent applications published in the journal last week, Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Kolkata have contributed a total of 97 applications. The total applications from each of the previously mentioned cities are as follows – 63 applications from Chennai, 11 applications from Bangalore, 13 applications from Delhi, 6 applications from Hyderabad and 4 applications from Mumbai.
| List of Cities | 1st January 2019 – 11th January 2019 | 4th January 2019 – 11th January 2019 |
| Delhi | 27 | 13 |
| Mumbai | 5 | 4 |
| Bangalore | 37 | 11 |
| Chennai | 97 | 63 |
| Hyderabad | 16 | 6 |
| Kolkata | 0 | 0 |
Total number of applications published by the Indian Patent Office from the 1st of January 2019 till date: 1562
- Early publications: 100
- Ordinary Publications: 1462
Total number of patents granted by the Indian Patent Office from the 1st of January 2019 till date: 480
- Delhi – 133
- Mumbai – 50
- Chennai – 184
- Kolkata – 113
Indian Industrial Designs Statistics
The designs office has registered a total of 142 designs this week. The total designs registered from the 1st of January 2019 till date now adds to a total of 279 applications.
Total designs registered in the previous Week: 137
Total designs registered this Week: 142
Percentage Difference: 3.64% increase
Total designs registered from the 1st of January 2019 till date: 279
Interesting Inventions of the Week
Invention 1 – A MOBILE DEVICE FOR MAPPING AND MONITORING OF UNDERGROUND COAL MINES
Patent Application No.: 201821049115
Applicant: Mr. Ajit G. Mutalik
Abstract: “The invention describes a robotic system which comprises of an all-terrain vehicle (ATV) mobile system that can be controlled manually as it navigates through an underground coal mine. The localization of the developed system is also carried out in real-time with respect to the entrance of underground coal mine, without the reference of a GPS signal. Simultaneously, the 3D reconstruction using a low-cost laser scanner is also performed by the system as it navigates through the coal mine. Both these data elements are then stored locally in the memory of the on-board parallel processing embedded platform in the system. Using the odometry data of the system and the laser scan of the underground coal mine, the system generates the 3D volumetric map using SLAM algorithm. This newly generated map can be visualized and accessed by an operator on a GUI present at the base-station of the site. Further, the structural soundness of the mine can be determined by comparing this new version of the 3D reconstructed map to its previous version to check for some structural shifts or any changes along the roof and ribs of the coal mine.” (The abstract has been provided as is and has not been corrected for errors)
Invention 2 – AN UNDERWATER SYSTEM FOR TSUNAMI EARLY WARNING
Patent Application No.: 201741023689
Applicant: National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT)
Abstract: “The present disclosure relates to the field of tsunami early warning. The present disclosure envisages a system which is highly reliable. A bottom pressure recorder is disposed at the seabed, and is configured to periodically monitor the pressure of surrounding sea water and transmit the signals (Ps). A mooring device is disposed, at the seabed. A buoy is deployed at a pre-determined height below the sea surface at safer depth by means of the mooring device. The buoy includes a first transceiver and a control unit. The first transceiver is configured to receive the signals (Ps). The control unit configured to receive the signals (Ps), and generate a release signal (Rs) when the signals (Ps) exceed a set threshold indicating the detection of a seismic sea wave. A fitment includes a release mechanism configured to receive the release signal (Rs), and further configured to release the buoy from the mooring device.” (The abstract has been provided as is and has not been corrected for errors)
Indian Government Updates
DPCO Amendment, 2019 spares newly patented drugs from price control for a period of 5 years
The Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers has issued the Drugs (Price Control) Amendment Order, 2019 which seeks to allow newly granted drug patents to be excluded from price control under the Essential Commodities Act. The five-year exemption period will begin from the date of commencement of the commercial activity of the manufacturer and will allow them to fix the prices of the drugs without interference from the government. The Drug Price Control Order Amendment will have effect on all new drug patents granted under the Indian Patent Act, 1970 and those medical drugs and devices that are listed in the National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM).
Raisina Dialogue, 2019 hosted by the Ministry of External Affairs and ORF
Raisina Dialougue 2019, a multilateral conference, was organized by the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi this year, between the 8th and 10th of January. The agenda of the conference revolved around framing appropriate policies in order to ensure efficient harboring of new innovation and technology in India. The Ministerial Address was delivered by eminent persons including The Minister of External Affairs India, Sushma Swaraj; Marise Payne, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Australia and others. In 2016, when the Dialogue was launched for the very first time, Francis Gurry, Director of WIPO had stated that innovation was key to achieving progress and that India’s IP laws were on par with the International IP regime, which made it an innovation hub.
Patent / Design Infringements, Disputes, Licensing and Settlement
AMD Sues Mediatek over claims of patent infringement
AMD has reportedly sued MediaTek for allegedly violating several of the company’s patents relating to accelerated processor units (APUs) and GPUs. The lawsuit follows a complaint AMD filed with the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) in 2017 against MediaTek, Sigma Designs, and other companies. AMD is said to be seeking “cash compensation for past, continuing, and future infringement” as well as a court order to block future infringement of its APU and GPU patents.
Supreme Court’s latest Judgment on Monsanto
The Supreme Court of India last week set aside the judgment of a Division Bench of the Delhi High Court which had revoked Monsanto’s patent and remanded the matter to the trial court. While news spread across like wild fire that the apex court had held Monstanto’s patent 214436, pertaining to the (Bt Cry2Ab) genetic sequence to be valid, this is far from reality. The issue of patent validity remains open and has not been decided by the court.
Minerva Networks renews patent license agreement with TiVo Corporation
Minerva Networks, a leader in pay – TV services, has reportedly signed an agreement with TiVo Corporation to renew its license for a multi – year period. Along with the renewal of the license the company has made as agreement with TiVo that seeks to allow Minerva to use TiVo as the principal meta data provider in its latest cloud service, Minerva Your TV Now.
International Patent News
USPTO appoints new Deputy General Counsel for Intellectual Property Law and Solicitor
The United States Patent and Trademark Office appointed its new Deputy General Counsel for Intellectual Property Law and Solicitor, Thomas W. Krause on 10th January, 2019. Krause, who previously held the position of Deputy Solicitor for over a period four years will take over the new position from 14th January, 2019. Krause, being delighted said “In the Solicitor’s Office, I’ve had the privilege of working with some of the most talented and inspiring lawyers I’ve ever known. I look forward to leading this extraordinary group of professionals and continuing the traditions of excellence set by my predecessors.”
South Korea’s DAPA introduces a new IP regimen for the Military
The Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) of South Korea has announced a new system of Intellectual Property guidelines which will exclusively be applicable to all new technologies related to the military. The objective is to reinforce the protection of these technologies that are produced in the home country. Further, the objective is also to improve relations between DAPA and SME’s with respect to new military technology.
Compiled by Vibha Amarnath
About BIP’s Patent Attorneys
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, and Titan. They specialize in IT/Software, Electronics/Telecom, Mechanical, Automotive, and Bio/Pharma domains, and help clients with patent filing, prosecution, management and strategy in India, and across the world.
The weekly patent news initiative is a part of their pro bono work, and is aimed at spreading patent awareness. You are free to share the news with appropriate attribution and backlink to the source.
If you have any questions, you may write to BIP’s Patent Attorneys – contact@bananaip.com
