New Delhi: A patent right will rest with the academic institution if a student, researcher or faculty member has used its resources and funds for developing a product, according to draft guidelines floated by the government on the implementation of IPR policy for academic institutions.
However, if an institution determines that an invention was made by an individual on his or her own time and unrelated to his or her responsibilities towards the institution and was conceived without use .. of its resources, then the invention shall vest with the individual or inventor.
These guidelines are floated with an objective to foster innovation and creativity in the areas of technology, sciences, and humanities by nurturing new ideas and research, in an ethical environment.
It would also help in protecting intellectual property rights (IPRs) generated by faculty or personnel, students, and staff of the academic institution, by translating their creative and innovative work into IP rights.
“The ownership rights on IP may vary according to the context in which the concerned IP was generated. In this regard, a two-tier classification is suggested for adoption,” it said.
In case of copyright, the draft has suggested that the ownership rights in scholarly and academic works generated utilising resources of academic institution, including books, dissertations and lecture notes, shall ordinarily be vested with the author.
On the other hand, the ownership rights in lecture videos or massive open online courses, films, plays, and musical works, shall ordinarily be vested with the academic institution.
Similarly, ownership rights over integrated circuits and plant varieties; and industrial designs will rest with the academic institution if a student, researcher or faculty member have used its resources and funds for developing the product.
The guidelines also said the academic institution is free to enter into revenue sharing agreement with the researcher, in cases of commercialisation of innovation, and creation as per the advice of IP Cell.
It added that the academic institution may appoint a committee of experts to address the concerns of the aggrieved person and all disputes shall be dealt with by this committee.
It has also suggested creation of IP Cells in academic institutions to ensure the effective applicability of these guidelines.
The Cell will be responsible for conducting awareness programmes for students, faculty, researchers, and officials. Besides, it would conduct advanced-level awareness programmes.
“IP Cell shall provide an environment for academic and R&D (research and development) excellence and conduct dedicated programmes on IPR for the undergraduate and postgraduate courses. ..
The other objectives of these guidelines include laying down an efficient, fair, and transparent administrative process for ownership control and assignment of IP rights and sharing of revenues generated by IP, created and owned by the academic institution.
“These guidelines shall apply to all IP created at the academic institution, as well as, all IP rights associated with them, from the date of implementation of these norms,” it added.
The 23-page model guidelines on implementation of IPR policy in Academic Institution have been prepared by the Cell for IPR Promotion & Management (CIPAM), under the commerce and industry ministry.
The IPRs are statutory rights. Owners of these exclusive rights get protection for a specified period of time like 20 years in case of patents. These rights include copyrights, Patents trademarks, geographical indications, and industrial designs.
Singapore is the first country in the world , launch computer application for trademark Registration , by the easy process you can file your trade mark application within 10 minutes .
A new mobile app touted as the worlds first trademark registration mobile app will allow businesses and entrepreneurs to file their trademarks directly with the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) on their mobile devices.
Named IPOS Go, the app has a simplified user interface and features that will allow for a faster and easier application process, IPOS said.
With the app, a trademark can be filed in less than 10 minutes, a small fraction of the current 45 to 60 minutes IPOS said.
Filing costs will also be significantly reduced as applicants may feel more confident in filing their applications directly with IPOS, the authority said.
Available on the Apple App store and Google Play, the app will also allow applicants to track their registration status, be notified of important updates, as well as file for trademark renewals.
IPOS Go also uses artificial intelligence (AI) technology to help prevent applicants from filing for trademarks that are too similar to existing ones. IPOS said that more than 40 per cent of trademarks filed in the world today contain images.
As the world continues to see a surge in trademarks filings, the new AI capability will help business owners better manage their brands, it said.
According to IPOS, trademark applications in Singapore have increased by 30 per cent over the last five years.
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UK Intellectual Property Office (IPO) said that Japanese conglomerate Toshiba became the first organisation to register a distinctive multimedia motion mark (a moving trademark) as per changes to the UK trademark law which came into force in January 2019.
According to the Intellectual Property Office, while it is possible to register motion marks before this, submissions needed to be illustrated graphically. The new system allows applicants to submit their moving, hologram or sound trademark by means of a multimedia file.
As per the changes in the UK trademark law, there is now a provision that makes it easier to register a sound or motion as an MP3 or MP4 file for a trademark.
Toshiba Europe communications head Matt McDowell said: We are thrilled and honoured to be the first brand to legally protect our motion mark in the UK using a multimedia graphic representation.
The Toshiba brand is synonymous with innovation and reliability and this initiative further demonstrates that our brand identity guides the business in both our communications and our behaviours in delivering our brand promise.
The graphic motif of Toshiba, which was created by the company to reflect its brand, is based on Origami, the art of paper folding.
The Japanese conglomerate applied for the multimedia motion mark through London-based Patent and Trade Mark Attorneys, Marks and Clerk.
The Intellectual Property Office said that the UKs first hologram trademark has been registered by Google under the updated law. However, the first sound mark is yet to get registered under the new system.
Intellectual Property Office chief executive Tim Moss said: Trade marks are likely to become increasingly innovative in the digital age, as organisations explore imaginative ways of reflecting their distinctive brand personalities using creative intellectual property.
Under the amended trade mark law, submission of motion marks, hologram trade marks and sound marks via multimedia format now enables examiners to see exactly what the creator of the mark intended.
The Intellectual Property Office is the official UK government body that handles intellectual property (IP) rights, which includes patents, designs, trademarks and copyrigh .
McDonald’s Corp has lost its rights to the trademark “Big Mac” in a European Union case ruling in favor of Ireland-based fast-food chain Supermac’s, according to a decision by European regulators.
As per judgment revoked McDonald’s registration of the trademark, saying that the world’s largest fast-food chain had not proven genuine use of it over the five years prior to the case being lodged in 2017.
The Spain-based EU Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) did not respond to phone calls and emails requesting comment. McDonald’s was not immediately available to comment on the decision, which the company can still appeal.
The ruling allows other companies as well as McDonald’s to use the “Big Mac” name in the EU.
Supermac’s said it can now expand in the United Kingdom and Europe. It said it had never had a product called “Big Mac” but that McDonald’s had used the similarity of the two names to block the Irish chain’s expansion.
“Supermac’s are delighted with their victory in the trademark application and in revoking the Big Mac trademark which had been in existence since 1996,” founder Pat McDonagh told Reuters in an email.
“This is a great victory for business in general and stops bigger companies from “trademark bullying” by not allowing them to hoard trademarks without using them.”
McDonald’s, which sells its flagship “Big Mac” burgers internationally, submitted printouts of European websites as evidence, as well as posters, packaging, and affidavits from company representatives attesting to “Big Mac” sales in Europe.
The EUIPO said the affidavits from McDonald’s needed to be supported by other types of evidence, and that the websites and other promotional materials did not provide that support.
From the website printouts “it could not be concluded whether, or how, a purchase could be made or an order could be placed,” the EUIPO said. “Even if the websites provided such an option, there is no information of a single order being placed.”
McDonald’s has historically been “extremely litigious” in the area of trademark law and typically does not lose, said Willajeanne McLean, a law professor at the University of Connecticut.
In 1993, McDonald’s won a court order blocking a dentist in New York from selling services under the name “McDental.”
In 2016, McDonald’s defeated an effort by a Singapore company to register ‘MACCOFFEE’ as an EU trademark.
The tech giant Sony has ramped up their technology from something that weve only seen in James Bond movies, to now being our reality. The company has filed for a patent that reveals how their smart contact lenses will take pictures and record videos just with a simple blink, storing them in a small memory space on the lens or on the users eyeballs. Not only is Sony striving for this, but other tech giants such as Samsung and Google have made plans for their smart contact lenses, going public with their ideas of taking pictures, making videos and monitoring sugar intake; gamers will also experience enhanced gaming, and other possibilities are endless.
However, Sonys patent doesnt mean well be seeing them anytime soon. Nevertheless, Sonys release of the lens will contain a picture-taking unit, a central controlling unit, the main unit along with an antenna, a storage area and a piezoelectric sensor.
Image Source: C|Net A diagram of the smart lens showing different regions of the lens.
The last mentioned unit above is responsible for monitoring the time on how long the eyelids have remained opened, and it will also detect the blink that was done to take a picture, as well as the blinks that were done subconsciously. This will allow the unit to distinguish between taking pictures and a normal blink.
As mentioned in Sonys patent, the subconscious blink is between 0.2 to 0.4 seconds, thus the patent states that if the blink exceeds more than 0.5 seconds, then it was done on purpose and will be considered an unusual blinking, therefore, gesturing the unit to capture the image. The antennae will supply the power to the lens wirelessly, source it from the smartphone, a smart tablet or a computer. The technology that was first discovered by Nicola Tesla, will use either radio waves, electromagnetic induction or electromagnetic field resonance, and to top it off, the smart lens will sport an autofocus and zoom ability.
But before happy blinking customers can get their hands on this latest device, and for the intelligence agencies to blink on everything in their sight, the technology is still to go through stringent tests. Then again, a technology such as this, is an interesting concept wrapped up in the scary, depending on how it will be used
Japan Patent Office (JPO) , trail board , upheld The Boeing Company’s invalidation petition against TM Reg. no. 5990529 for the “PACHINKO&SLOT AIRPORT 777” mark in respect of amusement services in class 41 due to a likelihood of confusion with Boeing’s famous jet airliner “777”.
[Invalidation case no. 2018-890054, Gazette issue date: May 31, 2019]
AIRPORT 777
Mark in dispute, consisting of three terms, “PACHINKO&SLOT” and “AIRPORT777” in English and Japanese in three lines, and a device of jet airliner (see below), was applied for registration by SEA Co., Ltd., a Japanese business entity, on February 17, 2017 in respect of providing Pachinko and slot machine parlors, game services provided online from a computer network or mobile phone; providing amusement facilities and other services in class 41.
SEA CO., Ltd. has been operating pachinko and slot machine parlors in the name of AIRPORT 777.
Without confronting with a refusal during substantive examination, the AIRPORT 777 mark was registered on October 20, 2017.
Petition for Invalidation
Japan Trademark Law provides a provision to retroactively invalidate trademark registration for certain restricted reasons specified under Article 46 (1).
The Boeing Company, the world’s largest American aerospace company and leading manufacturer of commercial jetliners, defense, space and security systems, and service provider of aftermarket support, filed a petition for invalidation against opposed mark on July 17, 2018. Boeing argued the AIRPORT 777 mark shall be invalidated due to a likelihood of confusion with “777” The Boeing 777 when used on above designated services in class 41 based on Article 4(1)(xv) of the Trademark Law.
The Boeing 777 is the world’s largest twin-engine jet airliner, first flown in June of 1994. Commonly referred to as the ‘Triple Seven,’ the 777 is Boeing’s first fly-by-wire airliner (an electronic system that replaces the conventional manual flight controls of an aircraft) and the first commercial aircraft entirely computer-designed.
In Japan, Boeing has successfully registered three digits “777” in respect of jet airliners in class 12 since 2001. Trademark Registration no. 4456004 (see below).
Board decision
The Board admitted that the “777” mark has acquired a high degree of popularity and reputation as a source indicator of Boeing jetliners among relevant consumers.
In assessment of the similarity between two marks, at the outset the Board found that three digits 777 implies a meaning of wining jackpot in association with pachinko and slot machines. However, by taking account of a term “AIRPORT” and a silhouette of jet airliner, the Board considered it is likely that relevant consumers with an ordinary care shall connect or associate the services using opposed mark with The Boeing 777. If so, it is unquestionable that opposed mark is highly similar to a famous mark “777”. Besides, since recent game and amusement industry have a trend to introduce flight and airplane games with new technology or to use images, video and sounds of jet airliner, it is not unreasonable to find above services in class 41 are closely related to jet airliners. In view of Boeing’s business portfolio, it is highly predictable that The Boeing Company expands the business and launches amusement business.
Based on the foregoing, the Board concluded that, from totality of circumstances and evidences, relevant traders or consumers are likely to confuse or misconceive a source of opposed mark with Boeing or any entity systematically or economically connected with the opponent and declared invalidation based on Article 4(1)(xv).
The move comes after the Trump administration put Huawei on a blacklist last month.
China’s Huawei has applied to trademark its “Hongmeng” operating system (OS) in at least nine countries and Europe, data from a UN body shows, in a sign it may be deploying a back-up plan in key markets as US sanctions threaten its business model.
The move comes after the Trump administration put Huawei on a blacklist last month that barred it from doing business with US tech companies such as Alphabet, whose Android OS is used in Huawei’s phones.
Since then, Huawei – the world’s biggest maker of telecoms network gear – has filed for a Hongmeng trademark in countries such as Cambodia, Canada, South Korea and New Zealand, data from the UN World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) shows.
• Huawei May Name Its Android, Windows Replacement as ‘Ark OS’
It also filed an application in Peru on May 27, according to the country’s anti-trust agency Indecopi.
Huawei has a back-up OS in case it is cut off from US-made software, Richard Yu, CEO of the firm’s consumer division, told German newspaper Die Welt in an interview earlier this year. The firm, also the world’s second-largest maker of smartphones, has not yet revealed details about its OS.
Its applications to trademark the OS show Huawei wants to use “Hongmeng” for gadgets ranging from smartphones, portable computers to robots and car televisions.At home, Huawei applied for a Hongmeng trademark in August last year and received a nod last month, according to a filing on China’s intellectual property administration’s website.
Huawei declined to comment.
Consumer concerns
According to WIPO data, the earliest Huawei applications to trademark the Hongmeng OS outside China were made on May 14 to the European Union Intellectual Property Office and South Korea, or right after the United States flagged it would stick Huawei on an export blacklist.Huawei has come under mounting scrutiny for over a year, led by US allegations that “back doors” in its routers, switches and other gear could allow China to spy on US communications.
The company has denied its products pose a security threat.
However, consumers have been spooked by how matters have escalated, with many looking to offload their devices on worries they would be cut off from Android updates in the wake of the US blacklist.
Huawei’s hopes to become the world’s top-selling smartphone maker in the fourth quarter this year have now been delayed, a senior Huawei executive said this week.
Peru’s Indecopi has said it needs more information from Huawei before it can register a trademark for Hongmeng in the country, where there are some 5.5 million Huawei phone users.The agency did not give details on the documents it had sought, but said Huawei had up to nine months to respond.Huawei representatives in Peru declined to provide immediate comment, while the Chinese embassy in Lima did not respond to requests for comment. (source NDTV ).
In a signal that China may soften its stand against social networking giant Facebook, the Beijing High Court has ruled in favour of the Cupertino-based company, saying that a Chinese company should not have been allowed to register the “face book” trademark back in 2014. Beijing, May 9: In a signal that China may soften its stand against social networking giant Facebook, the Beijing High Court has ruled in favour of the Cupertino-based company, saying that a Chinese company should not have been allowed to register the “face book” trademark back in 2014.
The Zhongshan Pearl River Drinks Factory in southern Guangdong province that had registered the brand name “face book,” produces food products like potato chips and canned vegetables. “Under the Chinese law, a multinational with a globally-recognised brand must prove that its trademark is also well known within China,”
The Financial Times reported on Monday.(ALSO READ:Apple loses Chinese lawsuit over iPhone name).Along with other social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook is currently blocked to nearly 700 million internet users in China. Burt several many people are using virtual private networks (VPNs) which allow them to circumvent the “Great Firewall” to access the site.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been trying to break the ice with China for years. He met Chinese President Xi Jinping during his visit to the US last year.The Facebook founder has also met China’s chief censor officer at his home in San Francisco and reportedly had a meeting with the head of the ruling Communist party’s propaganda apparatus.
In March this year, Zuckerberg was seen jogging through Tiananmen Square with the famous gate to the Forbidden City imperial palace in the background. He was in Beijing to attend the China Development Forum 2016. Zuckerberg also met Alibaba Group Holdings’s executive chairman Jack Ma and discussed about innovation during the visit. Ma said Zuckerberg respected Chinese culture, adding that oriental culture and western culture should learn from each other and work collaboratively for a better future.
Last week, Apple lost an appeal in China for its iPhone trademark when a lower court ruled that a Chinese company Xintong Tiandi can use the “iPhone” mark on its leather goods.
“Apple is disappointed the Beijing Higher People’s Court chose to allow Xintong to use the ‘iPhone’ mark for leather goods when we have prevailed in several other cases against Xintong,” the company said in a statement.
“We intend to request a retrial with the Supreme People’s Court and will continue to vigorously protect our trademark rights. We work hard to make the best products in the world and want to ensure our customers’ experience is not compromised by companies who try to profit from using our brand,” Apple added.
Apple was set to appeal against the verdict in a higher court.
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