Sovereign Patent Funds (SPF)

In the year 2000, a new patent aggregation business emerged under the name Intellectual Ventures (“IV”). Armed with more than five billion dollars from global companies such as Microsoft, Intel, Sony, Nokia, Apple, Google, Yahoo, American Express, Adobe, SAP, Nvidia, and eBay, IV aggressively acquired patents. Within its first ten years of existence, the privately-held company occupied the enviable spot of being one of the top five U.S. patent owners. In March 2009, IV expanded its reach globally to Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, China, India, and other countries, hoarding patents in important industries as it opened new offices on foreign soil. Indian innovators happily sold their patents for small amounts reported to be around 5000USD.As of today, IV owns a portfolio of 70,000 patents and collects more than three billion dollars in licensing fees.

Alarmed by the rise of powerful patent aggregators in the United States, governments from other countries have decided to counter with their own initiatives of aggregating patents through the establishment of Sovereign Patent Funds (“SPFs”). In the last few years, Japan, South Korea, China, Taiwan, and France have each launched SPFs. The Japanese government, through the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, established its sovereign patent fund, the Innovation Network Corporation of Japan (“INCJ”), in July 2009. In 2010, the South Korean Ministry of Economics established a sovereign patent fund, Intellectual Discovery (“ID”). In August 2011, Taiwan created its first sovereign patent fund, the Taiwan Medtech Fund.  In 2014, China stoked fear in the patent market by establishing the Ruichuan IPR Funds.
Further Reading: https://lawreview.law.ucdavis.edu/issues/51/4/Articles/51-4_Nguyen.pdf

Patent Cooperation Treaty Yearly Review 2018

Highlights from the report.

• An estimated 243,500 international patent applications were filed under WIPO’s Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) in 2017.  With 56,158 filings, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) received the highest number of PCT applications; it was followed by the State Intellectual Property Office of the People’s Republic of China (SIPO; 50,674), the Japan Patent Office (JPO; 47,425), the European Patent Office (EPO; 36,714), the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO; 15,830) and the International Bureau (IB) of WIPO (10,212).
• The business sector accounted for 84.8% of all published PCT applications, followed by individuals (8%), the university sector (5.4%) and the government and public research organizations (PROs) sector (1.9%).
• Huawei Technologies was the top PCT applicant in 2017, with 4,024 published PCT applications. With 2,965 published PCT applications, ZTE Corporation moved from first to second place. These two Shenzhen-based companies were followed by U.S.-based Intel Corporation (2,637), Mitsubishi Electric Corporation of Japan (2,521) and Qualcomm Incorporated of the U.S. (2,163).
• Among educational institutions, the University of California (482 published PCT applications) has remained the largest user of the PCT System since 1993 . The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (278) ranked second, followed by Harvard University (179), the University of Texas System (161) and Johns Hopkins University (129). 
• Computer technology (19,122) was the most frequently featured technology field in published PCT applications in 2017, followed by digital communication (18,400), electrical machinery, apparatus, energy (15,223) and medical technology (15,024).
• India filed 1603 PCT applications in 2017, 1528 in 2016 and 1412 in 2015. One third of Indian PCT applications have USA as designated country. 
• India is an attractive destination for PCT applications. Indian patent office received 25,896 national phase entries in 2016 and 27,882 in 2015. 96.4% of PCT applications received at India office had date of priority.
•  A relatively high share of PCT filings from India related to pharmaceuticals, Singapore - semiconductors, China- Audio Visual Technology, Computer technology, Sweden- Digital communication, Japan- Electrical Machinery, Israel- Medical technology, Netherlands- Optics, France- Transport.
•  In 2017, less than half of all PCT applications (47.6%) were published in English, followed by Japanese (19.4%) and Chinese (15.7%).

Government seeks public comments on Data protection bill; September 10 deadline

Two weeks after the draft of the data protection Bill was submitted by the Justice BN Srikrishna committee, the government has invited comments from stakeholders and public on it. Inviting comments on the draft, the ministry of electronics and IT has given time till September 10 which can be posted on the website. 
This follows EU Bill General Data Protection Regulation.

“EU GDPR was an over-reach. The Indian law seems a bit more rational and gets the balance right between the rights of the individual and the public good that comes from the digital economy. Having said that, the clauses on processing of data on reasonable grounds should have been less vague and the bill should have defined some accountability on part of the government when it processes personal data of the users without consent,” Suneeth Katarki, Partner, IndusLaw,

Read both and form your own opinion.

Right to be Forgotten:
GDPR’s Article 17 has outlined the circumstances under which EU citizens can exercise their right to be forgotten or right to erasure. The Article gives individuals the right to get personal data erased under six conditions, including withdrawal of consent to use data, or if data is no longer relevant for the purpose it was collected. However, the request may not be entertained in some situations such as if the request contradicts the right of freedom of expression and information, or when it goes against  public interest in the area of public health, scientific or historical research or statistical purposes. The B.N. Srikrishna Committee report has laid significant emphasis on obtaining the consent of an individual to process and use personal data. The committee said consent must be “informed”, “specific” and “clear”, and needs to be capable of being withdrawn as easily as it was given. 

The draft Personal Data Protection Bill, 2018, has a section on the Right to be Forgotten. But the proposed bill does not provide right to erasure. 

Section 27 of the bill has listed out three scenarios in which an individual will have the “right to restrict or prevent continuing disclosure of personal data” or the right to be forgotten, in a sense. This will be applicable if data disclosure is no longer necessary, the consent to use data has been withdrawn or if data is being used contrary to the provisions of the law. An adjudicating officer will have to determine the applicability of one of the three scenarios. The officer will also have to determine that the right of the individual to restrict use of her data over-rides the right to freedom of speech or right to information of any other citizen. (Source: Livemint)

Andhra Entrepreenurs

This second book by Indian Innovators Association looks at the history of Andhra — this is not a story of Rajas and Sultans but of Entrepreneurs. The market is the battlefield. More specifically, it is about the Farmer Capitalists of Andhra and their technocrat successors. 

What is unique about them? They are different; they are neither from the trading community nor from the deserts. The long prologue takes the reader to chapters on the Farmer Capitalists of Andhra, second generation Andhra entrepreneurs, an introduction to the fourth industrial revolution and ends by looking at some opportunities for smart Andhra entrepreneurs. 

“Now is the time for successors to farmer capitalists to reinvent farming with tools of the fourth industrial revolution.”

The book is currently available:

Notion Press Store: https://notionpress.com/read/andhra-entrepreneurs

Amazon.in: https://amzn.to/2mXMhf2

Flipkart: https://bit.ly/2LFBdBV

Infibeam:  https://bit.ly/2NUxFIT

Patent Efficiency Ranking

In terms of patent efficiency, it costs much more for the US and UK than China, South Korea and Russia to produce a high-quality patent that gets granted. Both the US and UK produce approximately 600 patents per $1 billion of research expenditure. Analyzing Patent Efficiency, converting $1B in R&D to patent grants, illustrates that Switzerland and South Korea generate the highest number of issued patents per R&D dollar.
Patent Efficiency ranking:
1.Switzerland
2. South Korea
3. Russia
4. Total EU
5. Total China
6.Norway
7.U.S
8. Canada
9.Israel
10. U.K
11.Singapore
12. India
13. Brazil

Source: patsnap

Are there patents in 1st Industrial Revolution? (IS INDIA READY FOR 4TH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION-PART2)

I raised this query in my bog post dated 19^th February 2018 and VK Varun, Scientist from DSIR, Ministry of Science & Technology commented  

During First Industrial Resolution, As per USPTO, 4695 patents were granted during 01/Jan/1790 to 31/12/1840 and its distribution is as follows:

1790-1800 [117]; 1801-1810 [084]; 1811-1820 [177]; 1821-1830 [595]; and 1831-1840 [3722].

Thank u Varun. There were indeed many patents and this was discussed in the working paper: Patents and the first industrial revolution in

the US,France and Britain, 1700-1850 by Sean Bottomley.

Some interesting aspects:

Between 1660-1760, few patents were awarded in England; it was unusual for more than a dozen to be granted in any one year. number of patents increases rapidly so that in 1800, 96 patents were awarded and in 1850, 513. Out of 72 'superstar' inventors born between 1660 and 1830, 81% obtained at least one patent in the course of their careers. 

Patent agents appeared in the third quarter of the eighteenth century. Agents offered an extremely valuable service; by 1849, virtually all inventors employed an agent (even if they resided in the capital). 

International patents: In the 1820s, Britons obtained, at the very least, 170 patents in France (6.3 %) of the total awarded) and in the 1830s, 415 (7%)  of the total awarded. Henry Bessemer worked on the problem of manufacturing cheap steel for ordnance production from 1850 to 1855 when he patented his method. He sold an exclusive licence to the Spanish  for his steel converter for £5,000. 

Patent infringement: Work on patent cases in the Court of Chancery between 1714 and 1758, shows that there were, at the very least, forty one cases instigated by patentees. The Court of Chancery offered patentees a variety of legal remedies – most importantly, injunctions.

Patent licensing : Between 1770 and 1845, around 30 percent of English patents were assigned in full and another 25 percent were either assigned in part and/or licensed as well. Many inventors licensed their patent. By selling a portion of the patent as part of a partnership agreement, inventors could obtain access to manufacturing plant and/or capital. Without sufficient capital, it is difficult to turn an invention to profit.

Many inventors made money : silk-winding machinery patented by Thomas Lombe in 1718 and worked in partnership with his half-brother John and his cousin William. Over the course of the patent term (1718-1732,  Thomas made £80,000, and when he died in 1739, he was able to leave his family £120,000, a colossal fortune by the standards of the day.

All inventors did not make money : there were many inventors during the industrial revolution who failed to reap any rewards from their endeavours and ended their days in poverty – John Kay, James Hargreaves and Richard Trevithick to name but three. Moreover, Kay, Hargreaves and Trevithick all chose to patent their most important inventions (respectively, the flying shuttle, the spinning jenny and the first high-pressure steam locomotive), but to no avail.

Patenting is not a new subject, only we cannot continue to ignore them for 4th industrial revolution too. in Part 3 we will discuss about pitfalls of leap-frogging.

Licences DPI de brevet, commercialisation de la technologie, marketing de l'innovation: Première partie, principes fondamentaux des DPI (French Edition)

Inventor and author Majid EI Bouazzaoui translatied into the French language and adaptation to Moroccan law, the first part " Basic principles of intellectual property rights (Ipr) " of the Indian book " Patent Licensing, commercialization of technology, marketing of Innovation "...

It is a unique book that goes around the topic and presents the basic principles of intellectual property law (Ipr), analyses the weaknesses of the law in the face of accelerated technology and economic development; and Even offers solutions.

This is really a reference book that must exist in every home and be reread as often as possible. I recommend it to students, professors, scientists, Phd students, engineers, inventors, entrepreneurs, policymakers, politicians, etc.

Order on Amazon.

US court rules on royalty for 2G, 3G, 4G SEPs

The court took a firm stand against royalty stacking. The judgement cited one of the key reasons for using top down analysis is that it prevents royalty stacking. The court also found that the results from the ex-standard approach proposed by Ericsson are highly suggestive of royalty stacking and lack fundamental credibility. The court adopted a maximum aggregate royalty rate based on various public announcements made by SEP owners and industry leaders for the top down calculations.
The court relied on the top down approach for determining a fair and reasonable royalty rate. It said: “A top down model aims to value a portfolio of SEPs by determining a fair and reasonable total aggregate royalty for all patents that are essential to a standard.” “It then apportions that royalty to the SEP owners based on the relative value of their portfolio against the value of all patents essential to the standard.”
Rates under FRAND:
4G- 0.45%
3G- 0.30%
2G-0.16%
(source: IP Pro Patents)

IS INDIA READY FOR 4TH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION? (part1)

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced that the DoT will set up test centre for 5th generation telecom technology with IIT Chennai. As per budget document, the FM has proposed to allocate Rs 134.48 crore for setting up of the "5G connectivity Test Bed".  Further the minister said the government would invest in research in new areas such as machine learning, artificial intelligence, robotics as it looks to prepare the country for the technology of the future. "Technologies such as machine learning, artificial intelligence and others are the technologies of the future and NITI Aayog will establish a national programme to conduct research and development in these areas,".  These new generation technologies are associated with 4^th Industrial revolution. Are we getting ready for the Factories 4 ?

The term Industrial Revolution was first popularized by the English economic historian Arnold Toynbee to describe Britain’s economic development from 1760 to 1840. It witnessed the emergence of mechanization, a process that replaced agriculture with industry as the foundations of the economic structure of society. Mass extraction of coal along with the invention of the steam engine created a new type of energy that thrusted forward all processes thanks to the development of railroads and the acceleration of economic, human and material exchanges. Other major inventions such as forging and new know-how in metal shaping gradually drew up the blueprints for the first factories and cities as we know them today.

The first Industrial Revolution and most technological developments preceding it had little or no scientific base. It created a chemical industry with no chemistry, an iron industry without metallurgy, power machinery without thermodynamics. Engineering, medical technology, and agriculture until 1850 were pragmatic bodies of applied knowledge in which things were known to work, but rarely was it understood why they worked. The second Industrial Revolution accelerated the mutual feedbacks between these two forms of knowledge `science’ and `technology’. Historians have labeled the years from 1870-1914 as the period of the Second Industrial Revolution. While the First Industrial Revolution caused the growth of industries, such as coal, iron, railroads and textiles, the Second Industrial Revolution witnessed the expansion of electricity, petroleum and steel.

The Third Industrial Revolution, or the Digital Revolution, refers to the advancement of technology from analog electronic and mechanical devices to the digital technology available today. The era started during the 1980s and is ongoing.  Advancements during the Third Industrial Revolution include the personal computer, the internet, and information and communications technology (ICT). The first industrial revolution used water and steam to mechanize production, the second used electric energy to create mass production and the third used electronics and information technology to automate production.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution builds on the Digital Revolution, representing new ways in which technology becomes embedded within societies and even the human body. The Fourth Industrial Revolution is marked by emerging technology breakthroughs in a number of fields, including robotics, artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, quantum computing, biotechnology, The Internet of Things, 3D printing and autonomous vehicles.

The fourth revolution is unfolding before our eyes. For India, the Fourth Industrial Revolution brings tremendous opportunities to leapfrog many stages of development, hastening its journey towards becoming a developed economy. In many ways, the Fourth Industrial Revolution is a leveller. The technologies being used in India will be the same as those in use in the developed world. Robots, AI, IoT are all technologies transforming industry in the West and are ready to do the same in India.

We missed the first and second Industrial revolutions but IT manpower gave us a strong foothold on the global platform in digital era.  Along with lure of opportunity, there exists threat of `premature industrialization’.  De-industrialization sets in for developed economies after they reach high level of economic prosperity.  Manufacturing as a share of total employment peaked at 45% in the UK before World War I, while in the US, it peaked in the range of 25-27% in the 1970s, before dropping off in both cases. But the UK and the US were both prosperous economies at the respective point in times at which this deindustrialization occurred. Harvard economist Dani Rodrik sees what he called “premature deindustrialization” as manufacturing shrinks in poor countries that never industrialized much in the first place. Manufacturing as a share of employment peaked at about 15% for Brazil in the late 1980s, and has been declining ever since. In India, manufacturing peaked at 13% in 2002 and has been in decline since then. We have a thriving service sector but need jobs in manufacturing too.

Analysis by World Economic Forum `Readiness for Future ofProduction’ analyses strengths and weakness of India. Of the 100 countries we are ranked 30 for structure of production but lower at 42 for drivers of production. The focus thus has to be on improving the areas where we are week. Our weakest area is Technology & Innovation. To understand this we need to reflect on Intellectual Property. We will address this in next part- are there patents in 1^st Industrial Revolution?

Life Science clusters in India

The BIRAC Regional Innovation Centre at IKP Knowledge Park prepared a study of select life sciences clusters in India. It maps the knowledge generation capacity, interaction between various stakeholders and gaps that hinder commercialisation of innovations.
Download link: http://www.ikpknowledgepark.com/images/BRIC%20REPORT%202.pdf

Digital Vaccine- war on trademark

Bhargav Sri Prakash, founder of a Silicon Valley based Indian start up FriendsLearn behind the fooya! app is fighting off a trademark bid for “digital vaccines” by Boston based Moderna Therapeutics which has filed for exclusive access to the trademark for “digital vaccines”. 
“Digital vaccines” expand the definition of a standard injected vaccine. “Neurogaming and immersive VR based apps like fooya! induce specific brain activity to trigger habit formation and have been shown in clinical trials to reduce health risks and prevent lifestyle disease. At its core, this is what our digital vaccine embodies,” says Sri Prakash.
Moderna Therapeutics, is a biotechnology startup based in Boston which has attracted nearly $2 billion from investors since its 2010 founding. Among other things it partnered with Merck to develop personalised cancer vaccine.
IT companies have been referring Digital Vaccine as security packages for network systems.

Readiness for the Future of Production Report 2018

The Readiness for the Future of Production Report 2018 is published by the World Economic Forum’s System Initiative on Shaping the Future of Production. The data-driven Readiness for the Future of Production Assessment 2018 analyses how well positioned countries are today to shape and benefit from the changing nature of production in the future. Readiness is generally regarded as the ability to capitalize on future production opportunities, mitigate risks and challenges, and be resilient and agile in responding to unknown future shocks. The assessment is made up of two main components: Structure of Production, or a country’s current baseline of production, and Drivers of Production, or the key enablers that position a country to capitalize on the Fourth Industrial Revolution to transform production systems. Where does India stand?
Of the 100 countries and economies included in the assessment, there are 25 Leading countries, 10 Legacy countries, 7 High-Potential countries/economies and 58 Nascent countries. All Leading countries are high-income countries except for China and Malaysia. Overall, the 25 Leading countries already account for over three quarters of global Manufacturing Value Added today and are poised to do well in the future—which could lead to increased global disparity in production. India is in the Legacy country category, meaning there exists large structure of production but pulled down by unfavourable drivers of production, which is measured by Technology & Innovation, Human Capital, Global trade & investment, demand environment and sustainable resources. Thus India gets 30th rank for structure of production but 44th rank for drivers of production. And in the demand environment it ranks in top 5.

Legacy countries currently have a strong Structure of Production, but display a low level of readiness for the future of production, characterized by weak performance across the Drivers of Production. Historically, many Legacy countries benefited from globalization as more developed economies outsourced lower pieces of the value chain to places with lower labour costs. As a result, Legacy countries received foreign direct investment, increased market access and developed a strong Structure of Production. Whereas Leading countries score very well on Complexity, Legacy countries’ strength within the Structure of Production tends to be on Scale. With rising production costs, Legacy countries risk losing traditional manufacturing share to Nascent countries that can offer even cheaper labour. By underinvesting across drivers, Legacy countries risk not being as prepared as Leading countries to capture advanced manufacturing share in the future. Combined, these risks could lead to premature de-industrialization if they are not managed effectively.

Does this mean India's ride in 4th Industrial Revolution could be bumpy with obsolete manufacturing technology?

FRAND rates in US Judgement

A US judge has handed down a fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) licence for standard-essential patents (SEPs) in a high-profile quarrel between telecoms company Ericsson and TCL, a China-based smartphone maker.   Royalty rates fixed as under:

A running royalty for End User Terminals Sold beginning January 1, 2018 according to the following schedule:

 For each such product Sold that is compliant with GSM, GPRS, or EDGE (but not compliant with WCDMA, HSPA, and/or 4G), 0.164% of the Net Selling Price if sold in the United States, 0.118% of the Net Selling Price if sold in Europe, and 0.090% of the Net Selling Price if sold anywhere in the world other than the United States or Europe; 

 For each such product Sold that is compliant with WCDMA or HSPA (but not compliant with 4G), 0.300% of the Net Selling Price if sold in the United States, 0.264% of the Net Selling Price if sold in Europe, and 0.224% of the Net Selling Price if sold anywhere in the world other than the United States or Europe;

 For each such product Sold that is compliant with 4G, 0.450% of the Net Selling Price if sold in the United States, and 0.314% of the Net Selling Price if sold anywhere in the world other than the United States. Should TCL purchase TCL End User Terminals from a Third Party claiming to  be licensed or to have pass-through rights under Ericsson Licensed Patents that confer a license covering the End User Terminal, then TCL will receive credit for that pass through license in the royalty rates applied. In particular, with regard to Ericsson Patents that are essential to the WCDMA Standards (“Ericsson WCDMA Licensed Patents”) for the Selling of ASICs, then TCL may have the option of remaining unlicensed by Ericsson under such Ericsson WCDMA Licensed Patents subject to Selling TCL End User Terminals with ASICs that are compliant with the WCDMA Standard. TCL shall then pay a royalty equal to the rate paid for the GSM/GPRS/EDGE and/or LTE Standards as specified in Clause E(3)(a) or Clause E(3)(c) of this Injunction, as applicable, for each such TCL End User Terminal  provided that such TCL End User Terminal is also compliant with any of the GSM/GPRS/EDGE Standards and/or LTE Standards while it is qualified as a WCDMA End User Terminal. For the avoidance of doubt, the Parties acknowledge the doctrine of patent exhaustion. Ericsson confirms that upon the Effective Date it has not provided any licenses with pass-through rights under its 4G patent portfolio to a chipset provider, making, using, importing, selling, or otherwise disposing of 4G compliant chipsets and components. For the avoidance of doubt, TCL shall only be required to pay the highest  prevailing royalty rate under this Injunction for each End User Terminal. For example, the 3G royalty rate for 3G multimode End User Terminal includes the royalty rate also for the 2G part in such End User Terminal.

Source: Judgement

IIIF2017 Report

https://www.slideshare.net/indiainvents/iiif-2017-report

Technology Transfer Evolution

The vision statement of Technology Transfer office now includes `University Economic Engagement'.
University leaders are increasingly responding to the needs of the innovation economy—and in particular their local economies—by including innovation, entrepreneurship, and “economic engagement” programming in their strategic planning processes. As part of this response, university technology transfer offices are evolving, and must continue to evolve, toward participation in a broader scope of efforts—with patents and licensing as one emphasis, and also connecting with and engaging in other efforts that support the learning and discovery missions of the university. In evolving toward broader participation in university economic engagement, technology transfer offices will develop deeper relationships with industry and other community partners; broaden their reach to areas such as education, technology development, and entrepreneurship; and integrate more closely with other supportive administrative functions such as industry contracting. While budget and resource threats to the university research enterprise are creating increased pressure to generate revenue from licensing and innovation activities, university leaders must recognize that successful economic engagement will not be focused on short-term income, but rather on longer-term work on relationship development and ecosystem building. 
Read:http://www.aplu.org/library/technology-transfer-evolution-driving-economic-prosperity/file

EU guidelines on SEP

EU touched on transparency of SEP.

INCREASING TRANSPARENCY ON SEPS EXPOSURE
Information on the existence, scope and relevance of SEPs is vital for fair licensing
negotiations and for allowing potential users of a standard to identify the scale of their
exposure to SEPs and necessary licensing partners. However, currently the only information
on SEPs accessible to users can be found in declaration databases maintained by SDOs which
may lack transparency. This situation makes licensing negotiations and the anticipation of
risks related to SEPs particularly difficult to navigate for start-ups and SMEs. The primary
purpose of declarations is to reassure an SDO and all third parties that the technology will be
accessible to users, typically under a commitment to license under FRAND conditions.
SDO databases may record tens of thousands of SEPs for a single standard, and this trend is
growing9. The declarations are based on a self-assessment by the patent holder, and are not
subject to scrutiny regarding the essentiality of the declared patent, which can evolve in the
course of the standard adoption procedure. In addition, stakeholders report that even in
concrete licensing negotiations licensors fail to substantiate their claims with more precise
information. This is particularly unsatisfactory in the context of IoT where new players with
little experience of SEPs licensing are continually entering the market for connectivity. The
Commission therefore believes that measures, as outlined below, are needed to improve the
information on SEPs.
1.1. IMPROVING QUALITY AND ACCESSIBILITY OF INFORMATION RECORDED IN SDO
DATABASES
The Commission believes that SDOs should provide detailed information in their databases to
support the SEP licensing framework. While SDO databases collect large amounts of
declaration data10, they often do not provide user-friendly accessibility to interested parties,
and lack essential quality features. The Commission therefore takes the view that the quality
and accessibility of the databases should be improved11. First, data should be easily accessible
through user friendly interfaces, both for patent holders, implementers and third parties. All
declared information should be searchable based on the relevant standardisation projects,
which may also require the transformation of historic data into current formats. Quality
processes should eliminate also duplications and other obvious flaws. Finally, there should be
links to patent office databases, including updates of patent status, ownership and its transfer....

Read: https://ec.europa.eu/docsroom/documents/26583

Limits of cross-licensing agreement

HTC are the third party beneficiaries of a covenant contained in a 1998 cross-licence agreement between Qualcomm Inc and the Claimant, Philips. The three patents in issue concern High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) and have been declared essential by Philips to the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) standard developed under the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI). HSPA was added to the UMTS standard in 2002 (enabling handsets to download data at high speeds) and in 2004 (for uplink data transfer).  The alleged infringing HTC handsets implement releases 5 and 6 of UMTS, and have HSPA.  HSPA is a hybrid TDMA/CDMA system. 
HTC argued that they are covered by the covenant not to sue, because (i) they have been designated a "CDMA Technically Necessary Patent Beneficiary" in writing by Qualcomm to Philips; (ii) the patents have been declared essential to the UMTS standard; and (iii) the UMTS standard is a "CDMA Wireless Industry Standard".  Philip submitted that the alleged infringements arise from HTC's implementation of high speed packet access (HSPA) which is not an act of infringement of a "CDMA Wireless Industry Standard".

Further reading.

Book Summery

Patent IPR Licensing-

Technology Commercialisation-

Innovation Marketing

This is a guide book for researchers and innovators from IFIA member, Indian Innovators Association. The Author in his long association with innovators noticed that more often benefits from creative endeavor elude the researcher/ engineer. The point of vexation arises when they notice that there are no buyers for their innovation.

One remedy for this heart burning experience is to start preparation for commercialization early in the development phase with clarity on the fundamentals of relevant market. The market is different for Patent license, Technology Commercialization and Innovation. Understanding characteristics of the market you are jumping into is a pre-requisite for non-business savvy innovator. This guide book takes the reader to each of these markets giving a basic view of each market.

Message from Alireza RASTEGAR, IFIA President:

Intellectual Property protection, licensing, commercialization and innovation marketing are the required steps for developing an innovative idea into a marketable product. Having knowledge about these concepts ensured the successful exploitation of the innovative technologies in the industrial sectors.

The community of idea owners needs to know how to prepare a well-drafted patent application, generate wealth from the patent, create physical products to help the brand

thrive and license their patents without the need to write a business plan, develop a marketing strategy, spend money on advertising, or find distribution.

Thanks to the efforts made by the Indian Innovator Association, IFIA Full member and representative in India, such information has become available. The inventors and innovators all around the world are encouraged to benefit from the wealth of knowledge

included in the book "PATENT LICENSING TECHNOLOGY COMMERCIALISATION INNOVATION MARKETING" and become familiar with a variety of new concepts.

The book is available at , Flipkart, Amazon, Kindle, iBook, Google Play etc.

Public Procurement (Preference to Make in India) Order 2017- Notifying Cyber Security Products in furtherance of the Order

The Government has issued Public Procurement (Preference to Make in India) Order 2017 vide the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) Notification No.P-45021/2/2017-B.E.-II dated 15.06.2017 to encourage ‘Make in India’ and to promote manufacturing and production of goods and services in India with a view to enhancing income and employment.
 In furtherance of the Public Procurement (Preference to Make in India) Order 2017 notified vide reference cited above, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) hereby notifies that preference shall be provided by all procuring entities to domestically manufactured/ produced Cyber Security Products as per the aforesaid Order.
For the purpose of this Notification, Cyber Security Product means a product or appliance or software manufactured/ producedfor the purpose of maintaining confidentiality, availability and integrity of Information by protecting computing devices, infrastructure, programs, data from attack, damage, or unauthorized access.
In addition to being an Indian registered / incorporated entity, and supplying products should satisfy the conditions of IP ownership as under:
IP Ownership rights would need to be substantiated by adequate proof, such as (a) adequate documentation evidencing ownership(evidenced by supporting proof such as documentation related to development but not limited to IP assignments, shrink wraps, license agreements, click wraps); OR (b) IP registrations. It may be noted that IP registrations is not a compulsory criteria as it is not necessary to register to exercise copyright in India.

Patent IPR Licensing- Technology Commercialisation – Innovation Marketing : Guide Book for Researchers, Innovators

My new book:
The guide book by Indian Innovators Association will help researchers and innovators to clearly understand the difference between patent licensing, technology commercialization and innovation marketing. Everything is important but each one is different. Intellectual property is a common thread and the reader is taken through the fundamentals of IPR before explaining each of the three. topics.

Available at:
Flipkart
Amazon
infibeam
notionpress

Revised Guidelines for Computer Related Inventions

Government released revised guidelines on June 30th. It replaces guidelines issued in February 2016.
Means plus Function: The claims concerning CRIs are often phrased in means for performing some function such as means for converting digital to analog signal etc. These types of claims are termed as means +function format. The „means‟ mentioned in the claims shall clearly be defined with the help of physical constructional features and their reference numerals to enhance the intelligibility of the claims. The claims in means plus function form shall not be allowed if the structural features of those means are not disclosed in the specification. Further, if the specification supports performing the invention solely by the computer program then in that case means plus function claims shall be rejected as these means are nothing but computer programme per se. Where no structural features of those means are disclosed in the specification and specification supports performing the invention solely by the software then in that case means in the “means plus function” claims are nothing but software.

Technologies for transfer from ISRO

200 technologies available for transfer from ISRO.
http://www.isro.gov.in/sites/default/files/article-files/isro-technology-transfer/technology-offers/ttic-technologies-on-offer-for-know-how-transfer-rev.pdf

Innovators from 30 countries to meet at Visakhapatnam, India

2017 International Innovation Fair, 9-11th September, Visakhapatnam

IP filing trends derived from the Indian IP 2015-16 annual report

An analysis by Invn Tree IP Services.

 

Best Engineering Technologies

Wide range of process plants:

Herbal Extraction Process Line:
Manufacturing of a wide range of herbal extraction process lines. These plants are used for extracting various herbal extracts from parts of plant or tree, including leaves, flowers, seeds, bark, roots and shrubs. Herbal Extraction Plant Aloe Vera Processing Plant Amla Processing Plant 

Steam Distillation Plants:
Designed to give max yield of Oil at low cost of fuel & for high quality of oil. Installed more than 70 plants in India and Abroad. We can supply any capacity of plant as per customer requirement. Plants can be supplied with wood, gas, electrical and diesel fired boilers. Aromatic Oil Distillation Aromatic Oil Distillation Plant in M.S. Plant in S.S. Specially Designed 50 / 100 Kg Capacity Distillation Plant Distillation Plant 

Food Processing Lines:
Manufacturing and supply of food processing plants and turnkey basis for different capacities with latest technology at most competitive prices. We can supply the following different food processing lines on the turnkey basis of different capacities. Fruits & Vegetables Cashew Nut Processing Dehydration Plant. Plant Red Chilly Powder Plant Turmeric Processing Plant 

Bio-Diesel Plant:
Manufacturing a wide range of Bio Diesel Equipment. These are fabricated using superior quality and can be customized as per the specifications of our clients. The bio-diesel equipment are available in different capacities right from 500 kg per days to any capacity. The plant comprises of: Dehuller /Decorticator Seed Cleaner Oil Expeller And Filter Neutralization Plant Press 

Pickle Machinery:
Manufacturing a wide range of pickle machinery which is fabricated in accordance with the needs of our clients. Complying with various industrial standards, these machines are widely in demand in the commercial market. Raw Mango Skin Peeling Mango Cube Cutting Machine Machine Garlic Peeler Mango /Lemon Slicer 

Fruits & Vegetables Dehydration Machinery:
Manufacturing a wide range of fruits and vegetables dehydration machinery. These machines are used in various applications of food processing industry. Fabricated from best quality material, these arealso designed as per the specific requirements of clients. Solar Dryer Tray(electrical) Dryer Infra-red Dryer (ir-dryer) 

Hand Book for Non Profit Incubators

CIIE prepared this document with support from GTZ. Authors:  Susmita Ghosh & Ashwin
Download the 76 pages report.

Trade Mark rules 2017

New rules have notified. Some aspects:

Concessions to Start Ups, Individuals and Small Enterprises

The new rules offer 50% discount on the official fees for startups and SME’s (small and medium enterprises) with respect to filing an application for registration of a trademark and for expedited processing of an application for registration of a trademark. Filing an application for registration of a trademark is Rs. 5000 (Paper Filing) / Rs. 4500 (e-filing and expedited processing of an application for registration of a trademark is Rs. 20000 (e-filing only)

The applicant should be recognized as a startup by the competent authority under the Startup India initiative. To qualify as a small enterprise, the applicant’s investment in plants and machinery alone should not exceed ten crore rupees if the applicant is a manufacturer. However, if the applicant is a service provider, the investment in equipment in general should not exceed five crore rupees.

Unlike the Indian Patent Amendment Rules, 2016 where the applicant being a startup/individual/SME enjoys discounted costs for the entire life of a patent application and even subsequently thereafter, in respect of renewal of the patent, the Trademark Rules, 2017 has limited the discounts with regard to Startups/Individuals/SME’s only filing and expedited examination of the trademark application.

Source: SELVAM&SELVAM

Global R&D Funding Forecast 2017

Highlights of the report:

• Global (116 countries) R&D investments will increase by 3.4% in 2017 to $2.066 trillion.
• More than 115 countries having significant R&D investments (more than $100 million)
• USA tops the list with 25.5%, followed by China 20.8%, Japan 8.4%, Germany 5.4%, South Korea 4.1% and India 3.8%.
• India spends more on R&D than, U.k, France, Sweden, Denmark,Russia, Australia, Israel, Canada etc.
• In the U.S., two-thirds of all of its R&D is invested and performed by industrial organizations.  Industries in Europe and Asia similarly support and perform between 50% and 75% of their countries’ total R&D. Industry is what drives the majority of global R&D throughout the world. 
• An analysis of the ICT industry reveals that global ICT R&D will increase by 5.1% in 2017 to $218.3 billion, while the U.S. component of those R&D investments will increase at a similar 5.1% to $122.2 billion in 2017.

• USA technological leader in all areas except automotive, where Japan is the leader and USA runner-up. China is runner-up in Computing/IT and ICT.
• INDIA’s 2017 R&D spending is expected to be $77.5 billion resulting in a global R&D total share of about 3.7%. 
• India has one of the largest public research systems in the world. Funding for R&D in these higher education sectors is larger than in France and nearly equals that of Japan. However, these universities are not considered world-class and have a weaker scientific and engineering publication record than other emerging economies such as Brazil, China and South Africa. 
• India has been very successful at attracting foreign R&D investments in a number of categories, including electronics and information technologies. Research studies found that India attracted about a third of nearly 200 engineering R&D (ER&D) centers created in 2015. The enterprises setting up these ER&D centers included the likes of Rolls-Royce, Ericsson, BASF, Bosch, Michelin, Foxconn and LeEco. India now has more than 1,000 ER&D centers. 

Source: R&D Magazine.

Medical Devices Rules, 2017.

Some aspects relevant to innovators:
   1. Government will be appointing medical Device Testing Officers.

(1) The Central Government may designate a Government Analyst appointed under section 20 of the Act as Medical Device Testing Officer.

(2) The Central Government or, as the case may be, the State Government, may designate an Inspector appointed under section 21 of the Act as Medical Device Officer.  

2. Government to establish Medical Device Testing Laboratory.

(1) The Central Government may, by notification, establish Central medical devices testing laboratory for the purpose of,(a)testing and evaluation of medical devices; or (b)functioning as an appellate laboratory; or(c)to carry out any other function as may be specifically assigned to it.

(2) Without prejudice to sub-rule (1), the Central Government may also designate any laboratory having facility for carrying out test and evaluation of medical devices as central medical devices testing laboratory .

3. Application for registration of medical device testing laboratory:

(1) An application for grant of registration of a medical device testing laboratory to carry out

testing or evaluation of a medical device on behalf of a manufacturer shall be made to the Central Licensing Authority through online portal of the Central Government in Form MD-39 accompanied with a fee as specified in the Second Schedule along with the information specified in sub-rule (2).        

Download report

Who owns patents in Mobile Devices in India

The report `PATENTS AND MOBILE DEVICES IN INDIA: AN EMPIRICAL SURVEY by Jorge L. Contreras and Rohini Lakshané' provides useful data. Highlights:

• The report identified a total of 19,569 published Indian patent applications and 4,052 issued Indian patents relating to mobile devices from January 2000 through February 2015. Top eleven holders of patents  are all non-Indian, based in North America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region.The single technology category with the greatest number of patents was communications (12,857). Of approximately 23,500 total patents identified, a total of only eighteen patent applications and no issued patents were held by three of the Indian firms studied (Spice Digital, HCL and Videocon).
• While absence of patenting activity in India is predicted, what surprised the authors is significant presence of software patents.  3,068 patents covered software-related features such as the operating system, message display, searching, file management and ringtone management. 
• Finally authors refer to a possible solution - One of the authors (Lakshané), together with the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS), have requested that the Indian government establish a patent pool covering critical mobile technologies, and that licenses to such pool be made available to all domestic manufacturers at a fixed royalty rate of 5% of the end product’s net selling price. Read the open letter addressed to Indian PM.

Integrated Rail Energy Management System

Indian Railways plan to save 41,000 crore rupees using Integrated Rail Energy Management System. A mission statement with plan of action is a rarity in government and this is a trend setter.
Download the report. 

2nd India International Innovation Fair (IIIF 2017)

Delhi High Court Strikes Down Section 24(5) of the Plant Varieties Act as Unconstitutional

On December 2, 2016, the Delhi High Court struck down Section 24(5) of the Plant Varieties and Farmers Rights Act, 2001 (Act) as unconstitutional in Prabhat Agri Biotech Ltd. et al. v. Registrar of Plant Varieties. 
During the proceeding, the Solicitor General, on behalf of the government of India, argued that Section 24(5) was necessary for the public interest. Specifically, the Solicitor General argued that this section of the Act was based on Article 13 of the International Convention for the Protection of New Plant Varieties, 1991 (UPOV), which necessitated Article 24(5) because it obligated parties to take suitable steps to safeguard the rights of applicants during the period during which their application was under evaluation. 

The Court concluded stating:

“Given the importance of the Act, there is enormous danger in empowering authorities with unguided and uncanalized power through provisions that can implicate livelihoods and limit or impair food access to tens of thousands – potentially hundreds of thousands of farmers and users of plant varieties. The existence of a large section of farmers unschooled in the provisions of the Act and unaware of their rights renders unethical bioprospecting practices and spurious claims to development of new or other registrable varieties, entitled to registration, a real possibility. Section 24(5) of the Protection of Plant Varieties & Farmers’ Rights Act as cast as present may undoubtedly be an adequate remedy to prevent abusive practices (assuming that what is abusive can be defined over a period of time); yet the danger of abuse of the provision itself and the attendant (likely) long term injury to innocent breeders, framers and those in the business of development of hybrids and plant varieties far outweighs its benefits, in view of the unguided nature of the power, which is destructive of the rule of law and contrary to Article 14 of the Constitution of India. Section 24(5) of the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Act, 2001, is, therefore, declared void.”

Source: bricwallblog
Also read: spicyip