Donald Trump Wins TM Rights for His Name in China
US President Donald Trump secured trademark rights to his name in China.Trump obtained the rights for construction services on February 14, according to newspapers The Independent and The Washington Post. The Washington Post added that Trump had been fighting to trademark his name in the country for the past decade. In the US, Trump has a number of trademarks already registered under his name, including ‘DJT’, ‘Donald Trump’ and ‘Donald J Trump Signature Collection’.
IBM and Sacem to Develop Online Copyright Platform
IBM and the Society of Authors, Composers and Publishers of Music (Sacem), a creative collective management organisation, have entered into a ten-year collaboration plan t o develop a copyright platform. The copyright platform, URights, is designed to track and capture music creators’ and publishers’ rights.
According to a statement released on January 12, the platform will allow Sacem “to provide additional value to rights owners with increased data analysis allowing more transparency and a more efficient identification of online works to help ensure they are compensated fairly”.
Microsoft to Help Cloud Customers with Patent Litigation
Microsoft has revealed plans to use its patent portfolio to help protect cloud customers from patent litigation.
Brad Smith, president and chief legal officer of Microsoft, announced the new programme, called Microsoft Azure IP Advantage.
The programme will offer IP protection with uncapped indemnification coverage, which will now also cover any open source technology that powers Microsoft Azure services.Microsoft will also make 10,000 of its patents available to Azure customers for the “sole purpose of enabling them to better defend themselves against patent lawsuits” filed against “their services that run on top of Azure”.
Nice Classification: 11th Edition Comes into Force
The World Intellectual Property Office has announced that the 11th edition of the Nice Classification system has become effective on January 1. The Nice Classification, established as part of the Nice Agreement, is a classification of goods and services for registering trademarks and services.
One change includes anti - bacterial, disinfectant and medicated soap being classified in class 5. In last year’s edition, cosmetics were under class 3, but in the new system they are in class 3 when for non-medicated use and class 5 when the use is medicated.
World Intellectual Property Day 2017: Innovation- Improving Lives
World Intellectual Property Day 2017 celebrates that creative force. We’ll explore how some of the world’s most extraordinary innovations have improved our lives; and how new ideas are helping tackle shared global challenges, such as climate change, health, poverty and the need to feed an ever-expanding population.
We’ll look at how the intellectual property system supports innovation by attracting investment, rewarding creators, encouraging them to develop their ideas, and ensuring that their new knowledge is freely available so that tomorrow’s innovators can build on today’s new technology.
Federal Circuit Vacates PTAB Decision on Apple Touchscreen Patent
Apple secured a win on January 3, at the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in a dispute centering on a patent for a touchscreen interface.
The court vacated and remanded a decision made by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) affirming an examiner’s rejection of claims 38–41 of US patent application number 12/364,470, assigned to Apple. Although the PTAB had reversed the examiner’s rejection of 29 claims, it affirmed that claims 38–41 would have been obvious over US patent number 7,231,229 (Hawkins) and US publication number 02/0191059 (Gillespie).
USPTO Reveals New Patent and TM Advisory Committee Members
The US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has announced new members for its patent and trademark advisory committees.
On January 9, the USPTO announced the committee members for its Patent Public Advisory Committee (PPAC) and the Trademark Public Advisory Committee (TPAC).
The USPTO’s public advisory committees were created to advise the secretary of commerce and the under secretary of commerce for intellectual property.
China’s LCD Electronic Writing Tablet Encounters America’s 337 Investigation
On January 9, the United States International Trade Commission (USITC) made a statement that Kent Displays located in Ohio put forward an appeal in December 2016, accusing that two Chinese companies selling LCD electronic writing tablet in US has infringed itspatent. It asked USITC to issue a limited exclusion order and prohibition order and file a Section 337 Investigation so as to confirm whether they constituted patent infringement or not.
Warner Bros and Nike Obtain Injunction against Counterfeiters
US entertainment company Warner Bros and sportswear multinational Nike have obtained a permanent injunction against counterfeiters, nearly three years after filing a claim.
Back in February 2014, Warner Bros and Nike, along with Disney, DC Comics and Sanrio Company, filed a copyright and trademark infringement claim against approximately 60 counterfeiters at the US District Court for the District of Puerto Rico.
On January 10 this year, US District Judge Jay Garcia-Gregory ordered that 44 of the counterfeiters pay the companies damages, ranging from $5,000 to $75,000.
Westminster Legal Policy Forum: Lawyers and Industry Professionals Talk UPC and Brexit Intellectual property lawyers and industry professionals have spoken about the future of the unitary patent, Unified Patent Court (UPC) and their IP impact post-Brexit.
Luke McDonagh, lecturer at City, University of London’s school of law, spoke at the Westminster Legal Policy Forum Keynote Seminar: The future for the UK’s Patent Framework, on February 2. McDonagh discussed the pros and cons of the UPC, with the advantages including IP owners being able to revoke their patent centrally and the court’s reduced litigation and enforcement costs.
$20 Million of Sports Counterfeits Seized Before Super Bowl
The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) units seized more than 260,000 counterfeit sports goods, worth an estimated $20 million, before the Super Bowl. Operation Team Player also led to 56 arrests with 50 convictions.
The 2017 Super Bowl was hosted in Houston on February 5, with the New England Patriots beating Atlanta Falcons 34-28 in a dramatic game.
This year’s operation began at the conclusion of last year’s Super Bowl and, throughout the year, the IPR Center led coordinated efforts with major sporting leagues to target counterfeits.
Apple to Terminate Exclusive Agreement on Audio Books
Under the pressure of EU ant it rust regulators, Amazon and Apple will terminate a global exclusive agreements on the supply and distribution of audio books. The exclusive agreements requested Apple should only purchase audio books from Audible Department of Amazon. Meantime, according to provisions of the contract, Audible could not supply audio books to any other data platforms except iTunes Store. After the promise made by Amazon and Apple, Germany antitrust department terminated the arranged formal investigation aiming at the contract.
Ancestry.com Coughs up $12.5 Million to Settle DNA Patent Quarrel
Genealogy research website Ancestry.com has agreed to pay $12.5 million to settle a patent infringement quarrel centring on DNA.
OraSure Technologies, the parent company of DNA Genotek, announced the settlement and licensing agreement on February 6.
DNA Genotek, which provides biologica l sampl e collection products, sued Ancestry and its contract manufacturer, Spectrum Solutions, over kits for collecting saliva DNA.
Now, the parties have agreed to a mutual release of claims, including the dismissal of pending federal lawsuits in the US District Court for the District of Delaware and the Southern District of California.
Google Applied for Automatic Drive Related Patent
A patent related to Google’s Automatic Drive which disclosed new information and design was exposed. According to the description of the patent, before issuing the order, the passengers can set the destination and other information in advance. Based on the destination, the surrounding traffic situation and other information, automatic cars can recommend some better places to pick up passengers and passengers could select the best place to take a car according to the actual situation.
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