USPTO To Reveal New Design For Patents This Week 06/03/2018 by Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) will make public the new design for patents this week at the South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive Festival in Austin, Texas. The new design will first be used on patent number 10 million, expected to issue this year. There have fewer than 12 basic design changes to the US patent since President George Washington granted the first patent in 1790, and only two in the last 100 years, USPTO said.
USPTO Rejects Use Of Tribal Sovereign Immunity In Allergan Patent Deal 01/03/2018 by Dugie Standeford for Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment Native American tribes’ sovereign immunity can’t be used to avoid inter partes review (IPR) of patent validity, the US Patent and Trademark Office Patent and Appeal Board (PTAB) has ruled in a first-of-its-kind case.
Academies’ Group Urges EU Harmonisation Of Rules On Inventorship, Patenting 28/02/2018 by Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment A high-level group of academic experts in intellectual property rights and innovation in the European Union has released a statement highlighting the rise in inventions due to international research and development and says EU regulations on inventorship, assignment and patent filing should be assessed for harmonisation and reducing complexity.
German Court To Hear Unified Patent Court Challenge, As EPO Staff Questions Persist 26/02/2018 by Dugie Standeford for Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment The German Federal Constitutional Court has agreed to take up a challenge that could potentially derail the Unified Patent Court (UPC). The special – and opaque – procedure under the national constitution allows a single individual to claim constitutional breaches, said Hogan Lovells (Dusseldorf) patent litigator Clemens Plassmann. The lawsuit leaves the UPC in disarray at least until next year, he said. Meanwhile, in the never-ending feud between European Patent Office (EPO) management and staff, President Benoȋt Battistelli was forced to back off from a planned rule change that would allow him to fire staff members “if the exigencies of the service require abolition of their post or a reduction in staff.”
Rising Patent Applications – And Challenges – For New Technologies, Artificial Intelligence 22/02/2018 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment The steady increase in innovations relating to new digital technologies, in particular technologies using artificial intelligence, is matched by an upward patenting trend. The European Patent Office recently issued a study on the subject and is preparing a conference in May, while the World Intellectual Property Organization is working on its own in-depth study. However, the current patent system might not be ready for artificial intelligence-related inventions, according to a global standards-setting body.
Patenting Artificial Intelligence Might Hamper Progress, EFF Says 22/02/2018 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment The Electronic Frontier Foundation launched a project last year to measure progress in artificial intelligence innovations and understand the legal, political, and technical issues potentially raised by those inventions. Some eight months later, the project has tracked rapid progress of those technologies, in particular in machine learning. According to the foundation, patents might be hampering the progress of artificial intelligence, and with the risk of patent trolls claiming rights on patents on machine learning systems.
USPTO Anticipates Slight Decline In Patent Filings, Including For PCT 20/02/2018 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is predicting a slight decline in some patent filings for 2018 and 2019, including through the international Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) managed by the World Intellectual Property Organization. Trademarks, meanwhile, will likely see slowing growth.
Japan Patent Office Decides “TE’ CON MIEL” (Tea With Honey) Is Distinctive In Relation To Tea 20/02/2018 by Guest contributor for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment In a recent trademark opposition, the Opposition Board of the Japan Patent Office (JPO) decided to overrule the opposition against TM Registration no. 5951823 for word mark “TÉ CON MIEL” designating tea in class 30 due to distinctiveness of the mark among relevant Japanese consumers.
US May Extend Its Patent Damages Worldwide 09/02/2018 by Steven Seidenberg for Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment On January 12, the US Supreme Court agreed to hear a case that could produce a major change in US patent law, with effects reaching far beyond America’s borders. At issue in WesternGeco LLC v. ION Geophysical Corp. is whether and when a US patent owner can collect infringement damages on a global basis.
Leadership And Change: An Interview With Medicines Patent Pool Board Chair Marie-Paule Kieny 08/02/2018 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment The unexpected announcement in December of the resignation of the Medicines Patent Pool executive director left the Pool searching for its new head. Marie-Paule Kieny, former World Health Organization assistant director general, now chair of the MPP governance board stepped in to oversee the MPP while the search goes on. She sat down recently for an interview with Intellectual Property Watch to explain that MPP is conducting business as usual, and is keeping firm in its plan to release the results of a feasibility study analysing the possibility for MPP to extend its licensing activities to other essential medicines still under patent.