“Interesting inventions of the week, Telepresence robot with full body control and handwriting transmission, Head Gesture Controlled Wheelchair, System for a moving puzzle theater, Study shows low IP awareness in India, Facebook alleges Blackberry of patent infringement, Blackberry patents invalidated, US ITC agrees to review Motorola – Hytera case, and other Weekly Patent News,” presented by the Patent attorneys and experts of BananaIP Counsels, India’s leading Patent Firm.
Patent Quote of the Week
“When we began Qualcomm, it had become quite clear that it was very important to patent new ideas.” – Irwin M. Jacobs, Co-founder and former chairman of Qualcomm
Indian Patent Statistics
A total of 955 patent applications have been published in the 36th issue of the patent journal. Out of the 955 applications, 79 applications account for early publications while 839 applications account for ordinary publications or publications occurring after the 18 month period. A total of 266 applications have been granted this week thereby marking a decrease of about 11.33% in total grants as compared to the preceding week.
Early Publications
| City | Previous Week | This Week | Percentage of change |
| Delhi | 6 | 32 | 433.33% increase |
| Mumbai | 36 | 44 | 22.22% increase |
| Chennai | 37 | 20 | 45.95% decrease |
| Kolkata | 0 | 20 | —– |
| Total | 79 | 116 | 46.84% increase |
Ordinary Publications
| City | Previous Week | This Week | Percentage of change |
| Delhi | 92 | 625 | 579.35% increase |
| Mumbai | 74 | 64 | 13.51% decrease |
| Chennai | 273 | 147 | 46.15% decrease |
| Kolkata | 40 | 3 | 92.5% decrease |
| Total | 479 | 839 | 75.16% increase |
TOTAL PUBLICATIONS (Previous Week): 558
TOTAL PUBLICATIONS (This Week): 955
Percentage difference: 75.16% increase
First Examination Report (FER) Statistics
A total of 2493 FER’s have been issued last week. Applicants and their agents can check if any of their patent applications have been examined by referring the journal available here.
| City | No. of FER Issued |
| Delhi | 875 |
| Mumbai | 360 |
| Chennai | 889 |
| Kolkata | 369 |
| Total | 2493 |
PUBLICATIONS UNDER GRANT
| City | Previous Week | This Week | Percentage of change |
| Delhi | 104 | 94 | 9.62% decrease |
| Mumbai | 30 | 38 | 26.67% increase |
| Chennai | 118 | 79 | 33.05% decrease |
| Kolkata | 48 | 55 | 14.58% increase |
| Total | 300 | 266 | 11.33% decrease |
Number of Applications published based on applicant city
Of the total 955 patent applications published in the journal last week, Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Kolkata have contributed a total of 103 applications. The total applications from each of the previously mentioned cities are as follows – 30 applications from Bangalore, 21 applications from Mumbai, 18 applications from Delhi, 16 applications from Chennai, 12 applications from Hyderabad and 6 applications from Kolkata.
| List of Cities | 1st January 2018 – 7th September 2018 | 1st September 2018 – 7th September 2018 |
| Delhi | 788 | 18 |
| Mumbai | 626 | 21 |
| Bangalore | 781 | 30 |
| Chennai | 458 | 16 |
| Hyderabad | 343 | 12 |
| Kolkata | 176 | 6 |
Total number of applications published by the Indian Patent Office from the 1st of January 2018 till date: 26875
- Early publications: 2572
- Ordinary Publications: 24303
Total number of patents granted by the Indian Patent Office from the 1st of January 2018 till date: 9629
- Delhi – 3604
- Mumbai – 1152
- Chennai – 2991
- Kolkata – 1882
Indian Industrial Designs Statistics
The designs office has registered a total of 145 designs this week. The total designs registered from the 1st of January 2018 till date now adds to a total of 6069 applications.
Total designs registered in the previous Week: 125
Total designs registered this Week: 145
Percentage Difference: 16% increase
Total designs registered from the 1st of January 2018 till date: 6069
Interesting Inventions of the week
Invention 1 – Make your presence felt!
Patent Application No.: IN 201821031764
Applicant: Chandrashekhar Bhalchandra Kulkarni & Vasundhara Jain
Title of the Invention: Telepresence robot with full body control and handwriting transmission.
Abstract: “Present invention provides a humanoid telepresence robot to make human interaction more impactful. This robot and all its movements can be controlled from remote location over internet. The robot makes human hand gestures and operates like a human. This robot does not need another human on-site assistance to operate or manoeuvre. Entire system includes one robot unit, one projector and one pen-tablet. Pen-tablet and projector are used to transmit person™s handwriting through web-portal which is synchronized with robot movements. Following invention is described in detail with the help of Figure 1 of sheet 1 showing the schematic diagram of the proposed invention, Figure 3 of sheet 2 showing internal block diagram of robot unit and Figure 6 of sheet 3 showing the block diagram of entire assembled humanoid robot.” (The abstract text has been taken as is and has not been corrected for any errors)
Invention 2
Patent Application No.: IN 201821032506
Applicant: Anwarul Mohammadhashim Haque et al.
Title of the Invention: Head Gesture Controlled Wheelchair
Abstract: “Present invention discloses a Head gesture-controlled wheelchair. This invention introduces a head gesture controlled wheelchair system to control the motor rotation of wheelchair based on head movement of physically challenged person. A head mounted accelerometer sends the data about movement of head to the control circuit which is responsible for manoeuvre of wheelchair. This project focus of this invention will remain on affordable cost of head gesture-controlled wheelchair for differently abled people” (The abstract text has been taken as is and has not been corrected for any errors)
Invention 3
Patent Application No.: IN 201817014598
Applicant: UNIVERSAL CITY STUDIOS LLC
Title of the Invention: System for a moving puzzle theater.
Abstract: “In one embodiment, a theater ride system includes a processor, a center platform, actuation arms, and maneuverable seating areas. Each maneuverable seating area of at least a first subset of the maneuverable seating areas is coupled to a respective portion of the center platform via a respective actuator arm of the actuation arms. The processor is configured to control the actuator arms to position the maneuverable seating areas in a uniform theater configuration such that each of the maneuverable seating areas is adjacent to at least one other of the maneuverable seating areas and the center platform to resemble stationary seating sections of a theater at a beginning of a show, move the maneuverable seating areas into different configurations during the show, and position the maneuverable seating areas in the uniform theater configuration near an end of the show” (The abstract text has been taken as is and has not been corrected for any errors)
India Patent updates
Study shows low IP awareness in India
A study conducted by Einfolge, an international patent analytics and market research company indicated that despite being actively engaged in research and new innovations, over 35% people are not aware of intellectual property rights. The study further stated that design patents, geographical indication (GI) and trade secrets need more attention to get the benefits of IP rights.
According to the study the respondents had minimal awareness about monetary benefits of acquiring an IP right, commercialization of acquired IP rights, or the legal troubles that one might land in for using a pirated product or infringing a patented product, process, etc.
Source: Livemint
Patent /Design Infringements, Disputes, Licensing and Settlements
Facebook alleges Blackberry of patent infringement
Facebook Inc. has filed a patent infringement suit against BlackBerry in a San Francisco court alleging that Blackberry has infringed on at least six its patents relating to voice instant messaging technology. Facebook is also apparently targeting BlackBerry’s use of global positioning systems and tracking and monitoring software.
This suit comes after Blackberry recently said that it was taking Facebook and its WhatsApp and Instagram subsidiaries to court in California, alleging that the companies were guilty of infringing several of Blackberry’s patents.
Google gets three of BlackBerry’s patents invalidated
Three patents held by BlackBerry concerning user interface elements have been invalidated recently by the US Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) following a successful argument by Google that the language used by BlackBerry in its patent claims do not accurately describe the interface elements in question and that there was a separation between elements that BlackBerry’s claims describe as being embedded. The decision by the PTAB once again goes to show that the grant of a patent can never be the measure of its validity.
US ITC agrees to review Motorola – Hytera case
Hytera appears to have received good news as the US International Trade Commission (ITC) has agreed to review in-part a final initial determination that was decided in favour of Motorola Solutions, amid a global war between the two companies.
In July, the ITC upheld allegations of patent infringement against radio manufacturer Hytera in an initial determination. Motorola had initially accused Hytera of infringing seven US patents which cover two-way radio equipment systems and related software. It later withdrew three of the patents asserted against Hytera.
Author: 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;
