Chinese companies and inventors filed a record high of 19,041 patent applications at the European Patent Office (EPO) in 2022, the Patent Index 2022.
The EPO’s latest data show that Chinese companies and inventors filed 19,041 patent applications at the office in 2022. Coming at par with other countries like Japan with 21,576 applications, Germany with 24,684 and the United States with 48,088. The Chinese companies and inventors filed a record high patent application with a 2.5% increase from the previous year. This is the highest among 20 major patent filing countries. In the company ranking, Huawei was still the largest patent applicant at the EPO in 2022. The top five applicant countries are the United States, Germany, Japan, China, and France, with China and the United States being the main engines of growth in patent filings.
BioAdaptives Inc. Announced Today the Signing of a License for Eye Health due to Myopia and Presbyopia; a Patent Valued at US$ 570,000,000
BioAdaptives, Inc. manufactures and distributes natural plant and algal-based products that improve health and wellness for humans and animals, with an emphasis on optimizing pain relief, recovery from injury, illness, and exercise. LY Research Corporation is a privately owned company founded by Dr. Yaguang Liu in New Jersey. BioAdaptives, Inc. signed a second non-exclusive license agreement with LY Research Corporation to market a patented product (Patent # US 9,622,970) for Eye Health due to Myopia and Presbyopia. Increasing cases of vision loss mainly due to myopia and rising incidence of distance vision impairment due to uncorrected myopia are some of the major factors expected to determine the overall market growth. More than 2.1 billion individuals around the world suffered from presbyopia in 2020.
Johnson and Johnson’s patent application for the grant of Anti – TB drug, Bedaquiline was rejected.
The Assistant Controller of Patents, Dr. Latika Dwara on 23rd March 2023, rejected pharmaceutical company Johnson and Johnson’s (JANSSEN PHARMACEUTICA N.V.) patent application filed in 2009 for the grant of Anti-Tuberculosis drug, Bedaquiline under Section 25 (1). It was found that the invention as filed by the applicant did not have an inventive step as the invention was a mere discovery of a new form of an existing substance. The Controller took this decision after a plea was made by two TB survivors on 07th May 2022 against the Application filed by Patentee in a Pre-Grant Opposition. This decision will allow the pharma industry to develop the TB drug at a cheaper cost and perhaps even improve the existing TB medication regiment. This will also stand as a major precedent against the evergreening of patents in the Indian Patent regime.
New Zealand HC held that an AI cannot be named as an inventor on any patent.
The High Court of New Zealand issued its decision on whether ‘Device for the Autonomous Bootstrapping of United Sentience’ (DABUS), an artificial intelligence (AI) system, could be named as an inventor in a New Zealand patent application: Thaler v Commissioner of Patents [2023] NZHC 554. The High Court said that it could not. Appellant, Dr Thaler appealed the Assistant Commissioner’s decision to the High Court. The court agreed with the Assistant Commissioner and found that given the purpose of the Patents Act 2013, it would be inappropriate for the courts to effectively expand the definition of the inventor, such a step being more appropriately reserved for Parliament.
Read Here
YouTuber Dhruv Rathee ordered the removal of references to ‘Real Fruit Juice’ from the video.
Calcutta High Court has directed the YouTuber to remove the offending portions from his video uploaded recently which analysed the health effects of fruit juices. The HC granted interim relief to Dabur, which claims that he specifically denigrated their packaged fruit drink ‘Real’ juice. They claim that Rathee made an unfair comparison between carbonated soft drinks and RTS fruit beverages and between fresh fruit juices and RTS fruits beverages and advised his subscribers to not consume those drinks stating that it leads to severities including type 2 Diabetes and hair loss. The court has stated that Rathee has violated Dabur’s trademark by unauthorised use of the packaging, label and logo of the product Real in the impugned video.
Read Here
TOBLERONE loses trademark and could no longer claim ‘Swiss Made’ and has to let go of Matterhorn in its logo.
TOBLERONE logo representing the Matterhorn will have to be changed. The brand owner Mondelez International is not allowed to depict the iconic mountain anymore. By moving some production outside of Switzerland, its chocolate bars do not qualify as “Swiss made” according to the Trade Mark Protection Act. This came into effect after the brand decided to shift its manufacturing units to the Slovakian capital of Bratislava as it infringes Switzerland’s Swissness Act, which requires food products to be manufactured with 80 % of their raw materials obtained from Switzerland which increases to 100% for milk and dairy products to claim ‘Swiss made’. The brand’s new package constitutes the signature of Theodore Tobler and a distinctive typeface and logo.
Delhi High Court Restrains Institute of Cost Accounts India From Using ‘ICAI’ Acronym
On 21st March 2023, Hon’ble Justice C. Hari Shankar issued an order against the Institute of Cost Accountants of India, restraining them from using the mark “ICAI”, in this case. The mark ICAI was registered by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India under Class 41, relating to educational institutions in 2011 and has been in usage since 1949. The defendants, i.e Institute Of Cost Accountants Of India, are also engaged in the same activity, but it caters to Cost Accountants. Before 2012, the Institute of Cost Accountants was called The Institute of Cost and Works Accountants of India and has been functioning since 1956. Per section 29(3) read with section 29(2)(c) of the Trade Marks Act, 1999, it was held that the usage of ICAI by the Institute of Cost Accountants is a violation and infringement of the registered mark.
Himachal Pradesh High Court grants ad-interim injunction in favour of Mohan Meakin Ltd
The Himachal Pradesh High Court recently restrained Accord Distillers & Brewers Pvt Ltd. (“Defendant”) from using “MISSIONARY MONKS AUTHENTIC PURE XO BRANDY”, and/ or any other marks that are identical or similar to the Mohan Meakin Limited’s (“Plaintiff”) OLD MONK and/or MONK marks. The use of the word MONK in the most prominent manner shows dishonest intention on the part of Defendant. The suit was based on the Plaintiff’s earlier rights in the marks OLD MONK and MONK. The court observed that Plaintiff has prior statutory rights as well as common law over the marks OLD MONK and MONK and has made prima facie in its favour. Accordingly, the court granted an ad interim injunction in favour of the Plaintiff and restrained the Defendant from using the mark “MISSIONARY MONKS AUTHENTIC PURE XO BRANDY” till the next date of hearing.
Sirona Hygiene Private Limited vs. Amazon Seller Services Private Limited & Ors.
Registered Design No. 263764 titled “Disposable Female Urination Device” sold under the mark PEE-BUDDY of the plaintiff. The defendant submitted that Plaintiff’s registered design is not novel and another product under the brand “P-MATE” is already in commercial circulation and registered in the United States, much before Plaintiff. Hence, the Plaintiff’s Registered Design is merely a trade variant of P-MATE. In particular, the court observed that since the shape of both the designs which would come in contact with the body are different, such difference impacts the manner in which the respective products will be used, and hence, PEE-BUDDY is not a mere trade variant of P-MATE. The Court granted an ad-interim injunction in favour of the Plaintiff.
UST Global (Singapore) PTE Ltd. v. The Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trademarks
The present appeal was instituted by the “Appellant” against the order by the “Respondent” through which the Appellant’s application for registration of a design titled “Touch Screen” for a novel surface ornamentation which is a Graphical User Interface (GUI) was refused design protection. GUI registration has always been in question under the Indian Design Laws as there is always an issue concerning that GUI cannot be treated as a design of any article. High Court of Calcutta in the impugned matter has given a positive hope for GUI registrability under the Design Laws in India. The Hon’ble Court held that a software developer develops a source code which creates the GUI. Therefore, the design is applied to the article by an industrial process and means
Read Here
China is set to upgrade the status of its intellectual property administration.
The National People’s Congress approved the state council institutional reform plan on the 9th of March which would result in the removal of the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) from the State Administration of Market Regulation (SAMR) and turn it into an independent top-level agency. This reform could be beneficial to IPR as the powers and duties of law enforcement lie with the SAMR this would help the CNIPA focus more on improving the quality of granted patents and trademarks to better promote innovation and high-quality development. The reform is also aimed at meeting the demand of building a country of innovation, according to the plan. As China’s science and technology industries continue to develop and breakthroughs continue to be made in the high-tech sector, expectations for IPR will certainly rise.
KAnalysis marked its presence in World IP Forum (WIPF) 2023 in Bengaluru, India.
