US IP News
Interest in the US patent system is again aroused with the retabling of the Patent reform Act of 2007 by members of the US Congress members including Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, former chair Orrin Hatch, House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers and Lamar Smith. The bill was tabled previously but failed to get approval then. Intellectual property discourses are always complicated, what more with the present turmoil in the world economy. If the bill is seen as too protective by other countries, especially the EU, then there is a real possibility of trade retaliations from these countries whom are a bit worried by President Barrack Obama’s buy American Policy. If the bill is watered down due to these concerns, then it might become an exercise in futility with time and money washed down the drain.
One of the changes to the present US patent system is the controversial clause to limit damages patent holders can exact on infringements. Damages can only be considered on specific clauses, rather then on the whole patent as of now. There has been a lot of concern from technology companies and medical product companies like 3M, Motorola, Texas Instruments, Eli Lilly and Pfizer. As a result, there have been many different lobbying groups each trying to win over Congress to their cause. The issues has become even more complicated with recent court verdicts like those between Microsoft and AT & T where the Supreme Court decided to limit damages from offshore infringement liabilities. At this moment in time, the country would like technology companies to spearhead economic recovery by introducing fresh new technologies, rather than to allow new laws to impede new technologies if there is little form of intellectual property protections from the companies view points.
Big defense firms looking for small niche players.
As big budget items are getting rare in these bad economic times, many major defense supplying companies are shifting towards buying up smaller firms that have niche intellectual properties. One of the most sought after technologies is in the area of surveillance. Another one is the intelligence, especially in the area of internet. It is the time to take a good look at what things they don’t have and by buying up smaller niche players, it would give them a new scope and enhance their capabilities when they go for defense contracts. Also on the look out are players in the biological sector where new technologies are springing up with very little media exposures. Such companies are often sprung up from research firms that have very low exposures. For the first time, defense companies are sending scouting teams to universities to look for potential technologies that are often ignored by venture capitals.
Is there such a thing as medical tourism patent?
A Middle East group based in Dubai has just filed for a patent at the USPTO. The group named MRI, has come up with a patent which marries the two field of medical tourism and health insurance and they called it “Offsurance”. Its main aim is to cut the cost of health insurance by up to fifty percent. Offsurance claims to resolve the geographical, organizational and logistic complexities involved in integrating medical tourism with health insurance and since there is no precedence on such patents at the USPTO, MRI group expects to get the patent grant in another six month’s time! Well, with an impending restructuring in the US health system as expounded by President Obama, there might just be possible for such a patent, although convincing the people at USPTO for such a grant might be a heavy task. The MRI is a group of British and Dubai joint venture.
May 15, 2009
What now after the Kyoto Protocol?
In an urgent call to the developed countries of the world, China and India have called for the sharing of technologies to help them battle global warming. Since the signing of the Kyoto Protocol, there has been very little progress in tackling the world’s environmental problem, no thanks to the absence of the US as a signatory. Come December, there will be a meeting in Copenhagen where countries from all the major economies will try to sign an agreement to replace the Kyoto Protocol in the face of distressing signs of global warming getting out of hand.
And under the stewardship of President Obama, the US congress has voted to make it US policy to strengthen its position, especially on matters about intellectual properties in the light of an onslaught at Copenhagen. China has highlighted the climate change issue with US congressional members who came to visit China’s congressional members. Presently, the US is trying to enact laws to put in place for spearheading eco-friendly green technologies reputed to be able to create greatly needed jobs. China and India argued that it is necessary now to open the path of new technologies to them, even if it is considered technology theft by western standards. The US is however very reluctant to open the path to them as it would constitute a very dangerous precedent, even jeopardizing its own actions to help kick start its recovery from the economic recession. Will there then be any sharing of critical technologies in Copenhagen?
June 28, 2009
OK, patent number 7,130,389 please draw your arms!
In a blinded move to deploy the latest craze for the internet, and with a background in instant messages, Jack Dorsey and Biz Stone came up with a plan to widen the use of SMS on the web. This Twitter moniker was born, sometime in March 2006 and it got a boost from Blogger linking to it telling all and sundry about this great application which combines the best of SMS and IM into one that can get your message to all within seconds. It was later referred as a micro blogging application, usable on computers and hand phones alike. With its tag line ‘what are you doing’ on its homepage, Twitter user’s would respond by typing a short message into the query field, and the user’s followers ( whatever that means) will immediately get the message, just like instant messages, wherever they might be, connected by cyberspace, or via phone lines. So began the craze that has to date attracted multiple millions all over the world.
Looking back, the experiment was just like many others, just a simple idea and a great desire to test it out after working it out day and night for two months. And the technology used was sourced from simple short code messaging techniques that was already being used on other communication devices. Unfortunately, unknown to the Twitter founders, the idea was already being used and a patent filed by a company by the name of TechRadium. IRIS (Immediate Response Information System) was the trade name used by TechRadium to run the service, which is a ‘mass notification’ service used mainly for emergency services in the school, government, military and utility companies. It was however, not well known, until now. Now, TechRadium is suing Twitter for infringing on its US patent, numbered 7,130,389, and is claiming an unspecified amount of damages and also for lost of revenue! Looks like a long drawn out court case is in the works!
August 6, 2009.
The Tivo-EchoStar ding-dong battle.
The ding dong court case which started in 2004 between Tivo and EchoStar (which was renamed Dish Network in 2004) reached a decision in 2007, when the U.S. District court in Texas decided that EchoStar had violated the Tivo’s patent on ‘Time Warp’. Then, EchoStar was asked to pay Tivo $ 103 million for damages. However, EchoStar filed an appeal with the U.S. Courts of Appeal for the Federal Circuit, and asked for a stay of execution. The patent concerned is a multimedia time warping system, used by millions in American households to play back program and side-step television advertisements.
Through a re-examination, and on August 3 2009, the Patent and Trademark office made a report that there is indeed invalidation on two of Tivo’s claim. It further reported that the disputed claims were invalidated by a prior art claimed by Philips Electronics and another by IMedia. It seems that the two claims that were mentioned was the exact two that EchoStar had reported violated. What now then? Will Tivo be able to collect the compensation and put paid to Dish’s advances, or will Dish be freed from paying up and continue to take market share? It is still early days and a reversion of decision is a possibility by the Patent Office.
August 11 2009.
Changes to the US Patent laws
There are two likely changes to the existing US Patent system that the Obama Administration is going to endorse. First on the line is the change from ‘first to invent’ to the more appropriate world standard of ‘first to file’. The second change is that patent filings will probably increase in fees of about 15%. There are also other minor changes along the way. However, these proposals are from the US Patent Office and will require the endorsement from the administration. Recently, Commerce Secretary Gary Locke wrote a letter to the US Senate Judiciary Committee stating the administration’s tacit approval of the changes. There is however a clause that the administration did not approve, and that is it will not endorse for patent drafts to be done only on US soil. It will allow work to be done with outside partners, for example, work done by patent offices of other governments.
The United States is the only country to use the ‘first to invent’ model, which is different from the rest of the world having the ‘first to file’ model. There is nothing wrong in the US model, but it has become very problematic, due mainly to the many disputes brought up from contending parties. It has also bogged down work flow in the Patent Office. Presently, the US Patent Office has a bag log of over 700,000 cases and with a working $200 million dollars deficit, it would take forever to bring its work up to speed. Thus the changes proposed by the US Patent office as stated by Director David Kappos, is an urgent step to put the Patent Office in alignment with the rest of the world. Not only that, with President Obama’s 700 billion dollars package to kick start alternative energy industries, a new life has to be put in the Patent Office so that the rest of the economy can be rejuvenated as well.
October 7, 2009.
Why is ACTA so secretive?
News have leaked from a EU document suggesting that the U.S. is pushing other nations to adopt a draconian global uniform policy for copyright infringements, commonly known as the “three strike” act. Lately, some of the developed nations had been meeting secretly under the umbrella ACTA (Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement) meeting, presumably to work out new copyright laws to deal with copyright infringements. The leaked information has indicated that the Obama administration is strongly behind for new laws like the ‘three strikes you are out’ law that France had put into place recently. Last spring, President Obama used an executive order to keep negotiations on ACTA secretive on “national security” ground. Among the nations called for the meeting were France, Germany, United Kingdom, Australia, Korea, Canada and Japan. Ominously out of the circle was China and India. Are they going hard after file downloaders with even jail terms?
December 03, 2009.
Get your Green Patent in twelfth months
In an attempt to help boost the US economy, the US Patent Office (USPTO) has allotted a fast lane tracking for green patents to be reviewed within twelve months time period instead of the usual forty months. With the recession eating into the economy and the need to create more American jobs, the Obama Administration has ordered a revamp of the patent system so that new green technologies could be prioritized and spearhead the new thrust in reducing the carbon footprint. With not much hope of progress in the World Climate warming conference in Copenhagen, efforts must be grasped on home ground the opportunity to lead again the world in green technology.
It is reported that the fast tracking system will only be given to the first three thousand green technology patents that have been filed with the USPTO. However, it is not known as to whether how patents are classified as ‘green technology’, but it is understood that the number of patent filings given such treatment will expand later on and might also include other categories. Prioritizing green technologies is the way to move forward as a means to overhaul the old system where fossil fuel usage was unimpeded. As the world is running out of oil, and global warming looks like nobody’s responsibility, changing gear now could make the US gaining back its leadership in the world’s economy. The US move on fast tracking of green technologies is the third country doing so after Korea and the UK launched their programs earlier in the year. To be sure, other countries will have to follow suit.
December 13, 2009.
Hollywood and the ISPs
In another landmark decision, the Federal Court has ruled that Internet Service Provider iiNet of Australia did not authorize and also do not have the power to stop illegal movie file downloads. Justice Dennis Cowdroy was of the impression that there was no proving that iiNet did authorize the downloading. Neither did it have the power to stop its clients from downloading. The plaintiffs include Warner Bros, Disney, Paramount, Columbia and Twentieth Century Fox among others. There have been attempts lately by movie providers to put ISPs on the line and forcing them to cut off offenders, but with this ruling, the content providers will have to look else where to fight piracy.
February 8, 2010.
OGD to face the heat
The FDA (Federal Drug Authority), like the USPTO is severely backlogged with thousand of pending new generic drugs that might take years for approval. Recently, the man at the helm of the Office of Generic Drugs (OGD), a unit under the FDA was replaced by Keith Webber. There is an estimated 1400 generics application still under approval and it is hoped that Webber will be able to hasten their approval. This is in view of 150 billion dollars worth of patented drugs that will come off the patent in the next few years. Generic drugs, mostly imported hoped to be able to grab part of the drug market as they usually cost about half the price. With the ever increasing cost of patented medicines, consumers in both the US and the rest of the world hopes to be able to benefit from important drugs that will go off the patent in the coming years. According to the commissioner of FDA, Margaret Hamburg, it does not benefit anyone as long as the applications sit on the selves and she further reiterated that “this is simply unacceptable. Uncertainty and delays are costly to consumers, costly to you—and hurtful to the public. But the unprecedented spike in generics applications has simply outstripped our capacity to properly review, which must remain our foremost focus.”
March 18, 2010.
Step 1: No to gene patent
In a landmark objection made by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Public Patent Foundation against gene patent, United States District Court Judge Robert W. Sweet has struck off the patent given to Myriad Genetics’ contentious ‘breast cancer patent’. It was a while ago that Myriad, brandishing its newly minted gene patent had threatened any other lab for doing analysis of breast gene for cancer using its method. In preventing the US patent system from facing a raging fire and self destruction, ACLU and its partners had argued that the US Patent and Trademark Office was wrong in granting Myriad the gene patent. In agreeing with the plaintiff, Judge Sweet concurred that ‘patenting laws of nature’ should not be allowed. Anyway, with the District Court’s judgment, Myriad is expected to appeal the case and bring it to the Supreme Court for deliberation.
March 30, 2010.
The green lane is now on fast track
The United States Patent office on Monday gave the green light for fast registration and prosecution of patents that have a green content. The patent process is at present being stalled by a large backlog. Prioritizing green technology and providing them a speeded channel will add to the job creation in America, according to Undersecretary of Commerce David Kappos. With this new channel, time for prosecution of patents will be reduced by a year. It is anticipated that America will have to heavily depend on new technologies, in particular green and alternative energy to spear drive the overhaul of its industrial base which had been based on cheap and available fossil fuel. With peak oil already being reached, there is a world wide scramble to introduce more fuel efficient devices and America sees it as a chance to seize its leadership in technology once again.
April 1, 2010.
New ideas to resolve patent backlogs
David Kappos, Undersecretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property which is directly in charge of USPTO, has vowed to overhaul the US patent system. With 750,000 patent filings awaiting review, there is an urgent need to speed up the patent processing system because according to Kappos, these backlogs have prevented the US from creating more jobs and inducing a greater US trade deficit. He is proposing a fast recruitment of experience patent examiners (about 2200) and the hiring of an ombudsman to mediate disputes between companies and examiners. However, with Congress still deliberating on the best way to overhauling the patent system, not much progress is anticipated for the near future.
April 11, 2010.
No more foreign call centers for US firms
New York State Senator Charles Schumer was quoted as saying "We have to figure out a way to keep and create jobs in America" and “aside from manufacturing, probably the number one area where jobs have just fled overseas in huge percentages are these call centers." He propos a 25 cent excise tax on companies that transfer calls with American area codes to foreign call centers. As an added deterrent to curtail the use of foreign call centers, he also propose that companies be required to inform U.S. customers when their calls are being transferred abroad, and which countries their calls are being transferred to.
June 5, 2010