News from the United Kingdoms

How Apple won a cross-border injunction

26 August 2011, London

Cross-border injunctions in preliminary proceedings are alive and well in the Netherlands, judging by this week’s decision in a dispute between Apple and Samsung

On Wednesday a judge in The Hague District Court granted Apple a two-part injunction blocking sales of three smartphones (Galaxy S, S II and Ace) by Samsung's Dutch companies on the basis of a single European patent. The injunction applies in the Netherlands and other jurisdictions where the patent is valid.

One Dutch IP lawyer who spoke to Managing IP yesterday called the decision "bold" but added that Judge Edger Brinkman is respected and has a technical background.

The patent, EP2059868, for "portable electronic device for photo management", is valid in several European countries, including Germany, Sweden and the UK as well as the Netherlands. It describes a two-stage swiping movement used to manage photos on smartphones.

But Samsung can also claim a victory after the judge found that none of the other rights asserted by Apple were infringed.

He held that one patent (EP2098948) for a multi-point and multi-touch...

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Australia to review innovation patents

26 August 2011, London

The Australian government has launched a review of the country’s innovation patent system, 10 years after it came into effect

The Advisory Council on Intellectual Property (ACIP) - an independent body set up by the government - has published an issues paper and called for submissions.

The Australian government replaced its petty patent system with innovation patents in 2001. Innovation patents are designed to encourage more patent filing among individuals and SMEs by providing protection for lower level inventions.

An innovation patent can contain no more than five claims. The standard of patentability is an innovative step, which is lower than the level for a standard patent. There is no substantive examination before grant, but if a patent owner wants to enforce its right it has to pay for it to be examined and certified.

Infringement remedies...

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Asia-Pacific IP Forum: speakers named

26 August 2011

Managing IP’s 8th Annual Asia-Pacific IP Forum takes place on September 29th at the Kowloon Shangri-La in Hong Kong, with more than 200 in-house counsel, officials and advisers expected to attend

Ada Leung, deputy director of intellectual property at the Hong Kong Intellectual Property Department, and Albert Ho, head of the Intellectual Property Investigations Bureau at Hong Kong Customs, will be keynote speakers at the 8th Annual Forum.

The conference will cover IP enforcement strategies across the region, with focus sessions on enforcement in China, India and Southeast Asia.

Speaking on the China enforcement panel will be Oliver Lutze of Bayer alongside Elliot Papageorgiou, He Fang and Fabrice Mattei of Rouse. They will share insights on where and when to litigate as a plaintiff, how to prepare as a defendant in patent litigation, and comparisons between the China and Asean patent litigation scenes.

On the Southeast Asia session, Chew Kherk Ying, Celeste Ang and Adolf Panggabean will discuss the legal landscape in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, focussing on the impact of regional IP agreements on enforceability in the region.

Anuradha Salhotra and Doyel Sengupta of Lall Lahiri & Salhotra will look at enforcement strategies in India, dealing with Customs and local authorities, and the advantages and disadvantage of remedial options in India.

In addition to these topics, Joe Thymian of Melbourne IT will lead a session on new gTLDs. He and Dennis Cai from the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre will explain how to apply for a new gTLD, provide tips for protecting against cybersquatters, and debate how to succeed in a gTLD dispute.

Finally, the last session of the day features an in-house panel discussion on strategies for managing investigations. Managing IP's Peter Ollier will pose questions to the panel, including Mayank Vaid of LVMH, on how best to work with investigators, local authorities and law enforcement.

Managing IP would like to thank the Forum sponsors: Lall Lahiri & Salhotra, Mayer Brown, Melbourne IT, Rouse and Wong & Partners, and supporting associations: APICC, Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre, Hong Kong Corporate Counsel Association and the Intellectual Property Rights Protection Alliance.Bottom of Form

News from Patent office of China

Opinions on Encouraging and Guiding the Development of Emerging Strategic Industry for Private Enterprises

The National Development and Reform Commission released the Opinions on Encouraging and Guiding the Developent of Emerging Strategic Industry for Private Enterprises recently, which contains several major areas including industry policy, finance to encourage private enterprises to develop emerging strategic industry.

Under the opinions, great efforts should be made to encourage companies to develop services including IT, biotechnology, E commerce, digital content, R&D design, IPR and Hi-Tech commercialization. The opinions also require to support the companies' participation in strategic new industry police making, improving innovation capacity and technology commercialization.

2011-08-25

Core Technology Standard Project Files over 300 Patent Applications

According to the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ), core technology stadard project, one of the national technological development plans organized by AQSIQ during the 11th Five-year Plan period, had been approved by an expert panel. In its R&D process, 317 patent applications derived from the project were filed.

The project developed 42 international standards, 336 national standards and 173 industry standards. Deemed as nice surprises, the project also filed 8 patent applications via PCT and 25 computer software copyright registrations.

2011-08-25

Six Persons on Probation for Distributing Fake Goods

Shanghai Pudong District People's Court rendered a judgment on a group of IPR infringement cases and six defendants were sentenced recently.

The infringing products were sold in three Shanghai markets with LV、GUCCI、CHANEL、ROLEX、LONGINES、OMEGA、BVLGARI、IWC、PRADA、Cartier and other symbols on bags, belts, wallets, keytainers, watches, jewelries and lighters. From the six convicts, authorities seized from 187 to 1,053 pieces of infringing goods with a value spanning from 900,000 yuan to 7.5 million yuan .

The six defendants were sentenced from 8 months to two years and six months in prison and fined 15,000 yuan to 80,000 yuan respectively. Taking into consideration their confession and one convict's turning himself in to authority, the court allowed all of them to be on probation.

2011-08-25

Core Technology Standard Project Files over 300 Patent Applications

According to the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ), core technology stadard project, one of the national technological development plans organized by AQSIQ during the 11th Five-year Plan period, had been approved by an expert panel. In its R&D process, 317 patent applications derived from the project were filed.

The project developed 42 international standards, 336 national standards and 173 industry standards. Deemed as nice surprises, the project also filed 8 patent applications via PCT and 25 computer software copyright registrations.

2011-08-25

Cross-strait Cooperation in IPR Sees Progress

The cross-strait cooperation in IPR protection including patent, trademark, copyright, new varieties of plants and certificates of origin fares well since the two sides signed the Cross-Strait Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) and an agreement on intellectual property right protection in June last year.

In the first half of 2011, the mainland received over 700 priority requests for patent and 13 for trademark by Taiwan compatriots; Taiwan also received over 400 priority requests for patent and 16 for trademark from mainland; 12 of the well-known trademarks determined by the mainland's Trademark Office under the State Administration for Industry and Commerce are from Taiwan. Based on a specific arrangement for the patent bar exam released in last July, for the first time, the mainland exam is open to Taiwan residents, the first group of 234 Taiwan residents have signed up to test their luck this year.

In recent years, cooperation in IPR protection across the Taiwan Straits becomes more closely. In 2010, the mainland received 22,419 patent applications and 10,767 applications for trademark registration filed by Taiwan enterprises while Taiwan also received 755 patent applications and 1,603 applications for trademark registration filed from mainland.

2011-08-25

Self-reliant Brands Responsible for 30% Export of Mechanical and Electronic Products

The National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Commerce and seven other departments jointly issued the Opinion on Bolstering Development of Mechanical and Electronic Products Export in the 12th Five-Year recently. Under the Opinions, efforts should be striven to promote the export of self-reliant brands of mechanical and electronic products by bolstering IPR and enable the export of self-owned brand of mechanical and electronic products to take up 30% of all the outbound goods.

Duing the 11th Five-Year, the export for mechanical and electronic products maintained fast growth which doubled the scale of that in the 10th Five-Year; the structure was further improved that hi-tech mechanical and electronic products represented over 50% of the total export; the export share of products with IPR also steadily increased. As of 2010, mechanical and electronic products had remained the top type of exported goods for 16 years.

2011-08-25

News from the Japanese Patent Offices

Chile's accession to the Trademark Law Treaty takes effect

On May 11, 2011, WIPO announced that the Chilean government had completed accession procedures for the Trademark Law Treaty. The accession came into effect on August 5, 2011.

Apple demands injunction against GALAXY products in the Netherlands

On August 19, 2011, U.S. company Apple filed an opposition with the Dutch District Court, demanding an injunction against sales of all Samsung Electronics' GALAXY products.

YouTube reaches settlement with the NMPA, will distribute advertisement earnings to copyright owners

On August 18, 2011, YouTube announced that it had agreed to conclude a licensing agreement and had reached a settlement with the National Music Publishers Association (NMPA) and Harry Fox Agency（HFA）, which had filed a lawsuit for copyright infringements against the former.
The agreement will enable music publishers affiliated with HFA to receive royalties for the use of compositions in videos created by YouTube users.

HTC sues Apple for patent infringement

On August 17, 2011, HTC (Taiwan) announced that it had filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Apple with the United States International Trade Commission (ITC) and the United States District Court.
The two companies have been suing each other over patent infringements related to the iPhone and Android devices.

New Samsung Galaxy Tab sales may be resumed in Europe except for Germany

On August 16, 2011, following a provisional suspension of sales of Samsung Electronics' Galaxy Tab in Europe in response to U.S. company Apple's appeal against patent infringement, Samsung Electronics was able to resume sales of the tablet computer in virtually all European countries with the exception of Germany.
This is due to the fact that the German court which ordered the suspension, having doubts as to whether it possesses the authority to suspend sales of an international corporation outside of Germany, limited the applicable scope of the restrictions on Samsung Electronics to the German market, while only restricting the company's German department across the entire EU.

Google reinforces Android through Motorola buy

On August 15, 2011, Google (U.S.A.) announced an agreement to purchase major U.S. communications device manufacturer Motorola. The purchase price is estimated at approx. 12.5 billion USD (approx. 960 billion Japanese yen).
Google CEO Larry Page wrote on the company blog that the acquisition of Motorola will help protect Android and the partners of Google against patent attacks.