tt consultants newsletter vol. 12 (october 2014)
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TT Consultants is an ISO-27001 and ISO-9001:2008 certified Intellectual Property Consulting firm providing services to more than 500 Companies, universities and research institutes. With clients in more than 20 countries worldwide including US, Europe, Canada, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, India etc., we strive to deliver foremost patent prosecution and litigation support. Innovation, knowledge and transparency, form the fundamental steps to our company’s vision and missionTRANSCRIPT
12th
October 2014Vol.
CONSULTANTSApplying Intelligence to IP - Globally
TAIWAN INDIA WASHINGTON DC
© TT Consultants, 2014 www.ttconsultants.com
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News Letter
INDEX
Page 1 // INDEX // October //2014
1. Headlines...............................................................................1
2. News India............................................................................ 3
3. News Japan............................................................................5
4. News China............................................................................8
5. Articles...............................................................................13
TT Consultants is an ISO-27001 and ISO-9001:2008 certified Intellectual
Property Consulting firm providing services to more than 500 Companies,
universities and research institutes. With clients in more than 20 countries
worldwide including US, Europe, Canada, Japan, Singapore, South Korea,
Taiwan, India etc., we strive to deliver foremost patent prosecution and litigation
support. Innovation, knowledge and transparency, form the fundamental steps to
our company’s vision and mission
Out and About
Headlines INDIA
Headlines JAPAN
Patent considerations: US-India trade relationship.
Pfizer wins patent for Voriconazole in India.
OTC drug market to reach $6.6 bn by 2016.
Real-time online app opens India’s patent process to public eye.
India Needs To Show It Values Innovation.
India’s intellectual property regime fully compliant with WTO norms:
Government.
Govt forms think tank to draft policy on intellectual property.
Delhi's Nehru Place among top 30 markets that violate IPR.
Recent agreement signals a new era in Australia's trade relationship
with Japan.
Ocean of differences keep U.S. and Japan apart at trade talks.
Japan’s attempt to get in stricter patent protection into free trade
agreement raises concern.
Japan grants Pacific Edge patent for prognostic technology.
Ageing Japan beckons Indian pharma companies.
Page 2 // NEWS // October //2014
Headlines CHINA
US: China's Theft of Trade Secrets a Major Concern
Apple Loses China Patent Case, Separate Suit Against Apple
Continues
Patent Office, China establish electronic exchange for application
priority docs
China takes cyber war to Australia.
Intel gains a new ally in China's chip wars: Beijing.
Articles
Patent trolls.
Determination of Obviousness/Inventive Step- Indian Approach.
Foreign entrepreneurs in China.
The Trans-Pacific Partnership
Page 3 // NEWS // October//2014
Patent Support Services
At TTC, we provide patent litigation support, patent prosecution support, licensing support, patent
acquisition support, technology transfer consulting, patent portfolio management and other legal
support services to leading patent law firms, companies, universities, research institutes and intellectual
property owners
News INDIA
Page 4 // NEWS // October//2014
Patent considerations: US-India trade relationship.
This comes on the heels of another important statement on IP. Recently, officials of the Modi
administration announced plans to establish an overarching intellectual property policy that,
in concept, would both define India’s approach to intellectual property and enhance the clarity
and transparency of its relevant laws.
Read More
Pfizer wins patent for Voriconazole in India.
Pharmaceutical major Pfizer Inc has received a patent for its anti-fungal drug Voriconazole,
which it is selling in US under the brand name Vfend, overcoming opposition from Ranbaxy
Labs Ltd and Natco Pharma.
Read More
OTC drug market to reach $6.6 bn by 2016.
The over the counter (OTC) drug market in India is expected to grow to $6.6 billion by 2016
with pharma companies and chemists increasing their presence in the rural market.
India's OTC drug market stood at USD 3 billion in 2011 and a "rise to USD 6.6 billion
is forecast by 2016," according to a sectoral document for Pharmaceuticals industry under the
'Make In India' campaign.
Read More
Real-time online app opens India’s patent process to public eye.
The government is throwing open the entire process of patents—from the filing of an
application to the final decision rejecting or granting it—by putting it online in order to curb
corruption and address charges of opacity. The public will be able to access digital updates at
each stage of file movement at the Indian patents and trademarks office—the Office of
CGPDT with all specifications, including patent examination reports, official remarks,
reviews and corrections and the final decision, on the patent office’s website from September
Read More
News INDIA
Page 5 // NEWS // October //2014
India Needs To Show It Values Innovation.
The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) is a staunch anti-
India lobby in the US. The organisation, which represents leading global biotech and
pharmaceutical manufacturing corporations, had urged the United States Trade
Representative (USTR) to downgrade India as a “priority foreign country” in its 2014 Special
301 Report on account of India’s alleged weak Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) rules.
Read More
India’s intellectual property regime fully compliant with WTO norms:
Government.
NEW DELHI: India's intellectual property regime is fully compliant with WTO norms, the
government said on Friday, two days after the two countries decided to set up a high-level
working group on IPR during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's US visit to sort out the
contentious issue.
Read More
Govt forms think tank to draft policy on intellectual property.
Amid the US Trade Representative launching an additional review of India’s intellectual
property rights (IPR) regime, the government on Friday said it has constituted a think tank for
drafting a national policy on the subject, among other measures.
Read More
Delhi's Nehru Place among top 30 markets that violate IPR.
"Nehru Place is reportedly one of the many markets in major cities throughout India that are
known for dealing in large volumes of pirated software, pirated optical media containing
movies and music, and counterfeit goods," said the report released by the US Trade
Representative (USTR).
Read More
News JAPAN
Page 3 // NEWS // June //2014
Recent agreement signals a new era in Australia's trade relationship with
Japan.
Japan is Australia's second largest trading partner. In 2013 Australia's two-way goods and
services trade with Japan totalled $70.8 billion ($66.5 billion trade in goods and $4.3 billion
trade in services).
Read More
Ocean of differences keep U.S. and Japan apart
at trade talks.
The Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations may be heading
for the same bargaining purgatory as the Doha Round of the
World Trade Organization, in which discussions are eternal
and the resolution of disagreements will always come
tomorrow.
Read More
Japan’s attempt to get in stricter patent
protection into free trade agreement raises
concern.
Even as the Prime Minister's visit to Japan generates much
excitement, there is concern among those working for
improving access to medicines regarding Japan's attempt to
get in stricter patent protection laws at the just-concluded
round of negotiation of Regional Comprehensive Economic
Partnership (RCEP) which includes India.
Read More
Page 6 // NEWS // October //2014
Patent Invalidation Search
We 'scour the earth' when it
comes to searching for prior art
in order to invalidate a
troublesome patent. We have
helped several US and Asian
companies save huge litigation
costs by uncovering highly
useful prior arts. We have
Mandarin, Japanese and
Korea native searching
capability. We are a preferred
choice for companies involved
in complex patent litigation
and have represented many
Joint Defense Groups (JDGs)
in such cases to identify
relevant prior art for
invalidating potentially
dangerous patents.
News JAPAN
Page 7 // NEWS // October//2014
Ageing Japan beckons Indian pharma companies.
Though the recent visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Japan ended on a not-so-eventful
note for the Indian pharma sector, the industry is hopeful that the Japanese market will slowly
turn to India for exports of generics.
Japan, which was so far had been a market for patented and innovative drugs, is slowly
realising the importance of low-cost generics, due to growing ageing population.
Read More
Japan grants Pacific Edge patent for
prognostic technology.
The worlds second largest single biomedical market,
Japan, has awarded Pacific Edge a patent for its colorectal
cancer prognostic technology. Pacific Edge Chief
Executive Officer David Darling says the issue of the
patent in Japan is a significant …25 September 2014.
Japan grants Pacific Edge patent for colorectal cancer
prognostic technology.
The world’s second largest single biomedical
market, Japan, has awarded Pacific Edge a patent for its
colorectal cancer prognostic technology. Pacific Edge
Chief Executive Officer David Darling says the issue of the
patent in Japan is a significant step for the Company by
providing intellectual property protection in the country
where colorectal cancer is the most prevalent cancer.
Read More
Patentability Search
A thorough patentability
assessment search conducted on an
exhaustive list of patent and non-
patent databases. We offer
innovative search reports that come
along
with a key feature chart and many
value additions offered by none
other in the industry.
This service is being extensively
used by the best research institute of
Asia, several national universities of
Taiwan, top law firms in the US
and 5 fortune 500 companies to
name a few.
News CHINA
Page 8 // NEWS // October //2014
Apple Loses China Patent Case, Separate
Suit Against Apple Continues.
A Beijing court has ruled against Apple Inc by upholding
the validity of a patent held by a Chinese company,
clearing the way for the Chinese company to continue its
own case against Apple for infringing intellectual
property rights.
Apple had taken Shanghai-based Zhizhen Internet
Technology and China's State Intellectual Property
Office to court to seek a ruling that Zhizhen's patent rights
to a speech recognition technology were invalid.
But the Beijing First Intermediate Court on Tuesday
decided in Zhizhen's favour, the People's Daily state
newspaper reported on Wednesday.
After the verdict, Apple said it intended to take the case to
the Beijing Higher People's Court, according to the
People's Daily
Read More
US: China's Theft of Trade Secrets a Major Concern.
WASHINGTON: Washington said Wednesday that China's efforts to steal US trade secrets
are of "significant concern" as it again listed the country as a major violator of intellectual
property rights (IPR).
In its annual "Special 301" report on IP rights violators, China led 10 countries on the US Trade
Representative's "priority watch list", marking its 25th year on the list
Read More
Structure & Sequence
Search
When you request a chemical
structure/substructure search,
our domain specific searchers
with extensive experience
perform patent searches and
deliver insightful results for
compounds matching the query
structure, as well as for
compounds containing the query
structure as a subset
(substructure) of a larger
News CHINA
Page 9 // NEWS // October //2014
China takes cyber war to Australia.
Safter stealing the confidential data of American and European companies, China's cyber
spies are now training their sights on their country's latest key trading partner – Australia
Read More
Patent Office, China establish electronic exchange for application
priority docs.
A new service allows the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to electronically exchange certain
patent application documents with its equivalent office in China, the agency announced Oct.
10.
At issue are so-called patent application priority documents. Under the Paris Convention for
the Protection of Industrial Property, patent applicants who file in one country have a year to
file in other member countries in order to hold on to their priority date.
Read More
Claim Chart Preparation This search helps in identifying the potential infringers of a particular patent portfolio. Over the years, we
have evolved an innovative and effective strategy to identify infringing products/standards and ascertaining
the infringement. This service is used by a leading semiconductor manufacturer and some fortune 500
companies across the globe. structure as a subset (substructure) of a larger structure.
Intel gains a new ally in China's chip wars: Beijing.
(Reuters) - Intel's investment of up to $1.5 billion in two fast-growing Chinese mobile
chipmakers has effectively aligned the U.S. giant with a third party - a Beijing government
intent on producing a viable domestic challenger to the likes of Qualcomm and Samsung.
For more than a decade, China has targeted semiconductor design and manufacture as a
major focus of its industrial policy. Activity has picked up markedly over the past year with a
spate of cross-border mergers and cooperation deals.
Read More
Patent trollsNEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO – For two decades, companies that buy software patents in
order to sue technology giants have been the scourge of Silicon Valley. Reviled as “patent
trolls,” they have attacked everything from Google’s online ads to Apple’s iPhone features,
sometimes winning hundreds of millions of dollars.But now the trolls are in retreat from the tech titans.
In the wake of several changes in U.S. law making it easier to challenge software patents, patent prices are plummeting, the number of court fights is down and stock prices of many patent-holding companies have
fallen. Some tech firms are increasing research budgets as legal costs shrink. Support for
“Their entire business model relies on intimidation, and that has lost its edge,” said Efrat
Kasznik, president of the intellectual property consulting firm Foresight Valuation Group. “If
the patents are not enforceable in court anymore . . . the troll has no legs to stand on.”
“In some cases, there are just no current buyers for these patents at all,” said Robert Aronoff,
founder of the patent brokerage Pluritas, citing new legal standards for the change.
NetApp, a Silicon Valley maker of sophisticated data storage devices, last month used a new
legal precedent to force a patent holder to pay its legal fees. The judge called the case “reckless
and wasteful.”
The birth of trolls.
Big tech companies distinguish between their own intellectual property, which they fiercely
protect, and those of their adversaries, which they often dismiss as broadly worded and vague,
allowing holders to sue all manner of defendants. The big tech companies note that patent
acquisition companies generally make no products but are solely in the business of buying
patents and litigating to enforce them.
The putative trolls see a different world. They buy patents from inventors and each other,
creating a marketplace that checks big tech companies’ sway, and rely ultimately on a fair
arbiter: courts. This can provide vital protection for investors’ ideas, said Matt Vella, CEO of
Acacia Research Corp., which contracts with owners to license their patents to other
companies. “I see it as a Robin Hood function,” he said.
If the so-called trolls had a birth date, it would be the summer of 1994, when a federal appeals
court explicitly allowed computer program patents for the first time.
Read More
Page 10 // Articles // October //2014
Determination of Obviousness/Inventive Step- Indian Approach
For an invention to be patentable: it has to be novel (new) it has to involve an inventive step (non-obvious) it has to be industrially applicable (can be made or used in an industry)
Apart from satisfying these criteria, the invention should also not fall under the category of
non patentable subject matter, as per Section 3 of the Indian Patent Act.It is important that before applying for a patent, one tries to ascertain whether the proposed
invention satisfies all these criteria for the successful grant of a patent for a proposed
invention. The criteria related to novelty and industrial applicability are generally regarded as
being well defined and understood based on the definition provided in the Act. However, the
concept of non obviousness or the presence of inventive step in a proposed invention is still
under debate among the patent office, courts and patentees.
Current definition, 2005:(I). “invention” means a new product or process involving an inventive step and capable of
industrial application;
(ii) “inventive step” means a feature of an invention that involves technical advance as
compared to the existing knowledge or having economic significance or both and that makes
the invention not obvious to a person skilled in the art.
“Inventive Step” as laid by the Indian Patent Act
As per sec 2 (l) of the Patents Act, a new invention means any invention or technology
which has not been anticipated by publication in any document or used in the country or
elsewhere in the world before the date of filing of patent application with complete
specification, i.e., the subject matter has not fallen in public domain or that it does not form
part of the state of the art.
a new provision in the definition section of the Patents Act. Section 2(1)(ja) of the Act
defines "inventive step" to mean "a feature of an invention that involves technical advance
as compared to the existing knowledge or having economic significance or both and that
makes the invention not obvious to a person skilled in the art".
Read More
Page 11 // Articles // October //2014
Foreign entrepreneurs in ChinaIt is hard for small businesses to break into the Chinese market
ENTREPRENEURS do more with less, proclaimed Fiona Woolf this week on a visit to
Shanghai. Lady Woolf, the current Lord Mayor of the City of London, was speaking at an
academic conference devoted to helping small and medium enterprises (SMEs) flourish in
China. These businesses face all of the same obstacles as big firms trying to enter China but
have far fewer resources.
Intellectual-property rights are hard and costly to defend. The tangle of red tape involved in
tax, compliance, customs clearance, business registration and so on can overwhelm small
firms. Alexandra Voss of the German Chamber of Commerce points out that local firms often
work overtime and on weekends during negotiations—and that foreign SMEs with staff
shortages and little local knowledge can quickly get overwhelmed
A bigger snag is that getting China right demands a huge amount of attention from the top
brass, explains Franklin Yao of Smith Street Solutions, a consulting firm that advises firms
keen to enter China. The problem is that the market is enormous, complicated and opaque. It is
also hyper-competitive, thanks to a proliferation of both low-cost locals and deep-pocketed
multinational companies.
For intrepid SMEs still keen to try, help is at hand. All developed countries have trade offices
and business chambers devoted to helping smaller firms clear the many hurdles. Consultants
are also coming up with new ways to connect these firms to unfamiliar customers.
Deb Weidenhamer runs iPai, a trailblazing foreign auction house in China. Her outfit holds dozens of auctions a year, run simultaneously online and at a trendy site in Shanghai, mostly peddling excess inventories from distributors of fashionable goods. For $15,000, she will add a foreign SME’s product to three of her auctions over several weeks and get user feedback. The result, she says, is that her clients learn quickly and easily if and how much Chinese customers will pay
for their novel products and what they think of them.
For 17-20% of a firm’s Chinese revenues, he will take care of the regulatory filings, product
testing, warehousing and so on required for online sales.
Alibaba, a Chinese e-commerce giant that recently went public in America, is explicitly
courting foreign SMEs
Read More
Page 12 // Articles // October //2014
The Trans-Pacific PartnershipFreer Trade: ASEAN Economic Community and the Trans-Pacific Partnership -
Annual Review 2015
BackgroundTPP: The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is an ambitious trade agreement through which the
US is seeking to advance its trade and investment interests in the Asia-Pacific region, which it
considers to be vital to its economic success. Negotiations are taking place with 11 other
countries: Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru,
Singapore and Vietnam.
In addition to providing US goods and services with access to new markets, the TPP will apply
strong and enforceable employment and environmental standards, new rules governing state-
owned enterprises and a robust and balanced intellectual property rights framework, and will
encourage a thriving digital economy. It also seeks to improve the transparency and
consistency of the regulatory environment to make it easier for small- and medium-sized
businesses to operate across the region.
AEC 2015The Association of South- East Asian Nations (ASEAN) Economic Community 2015 (AEC
2015) seeks to achieve economic integration between members of ASEAN by next year.
ASEAN includes Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia,Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines,
Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
The AEC will be defined by four characteristics: a single market and production base, a highly
competitive economic region, a region of equitable economic development, and a region that
is fully integrated into the global economy. It aims to transform ASEAN into a region with free
movement of goods, services, investment and skilled labour, and the freer flow of capital.To enhance the competitiveness of the region, the countries agreed to cooperate further in the
following areas under the AEC 2015 framework: competition policy, intellectual property
rights, infrastructure development and tax efficiency
Current StatusTPP: Chief negotiators met in Canadain July 2014 to discuss a number of areas, including
intellectual property rights, employment, state-owned enterprises, services, investment and
market access. However, the meeting wrapped up without much progress - not even an
agreement on a date for the next meeting, due to major differences over issues such as
intellectual property, according toThe Japan Times.
Read More
Page 13 // Articles // October //2014
Platform for Automation, Machine Learning and Visualization tools – revolutionizing
the prior art search experience!
xlpatlabs
Automated FIRST PASS patent Invalidation tool
Dynamic Landscape dashboard
Automated patent categorization
Real time graphical analysis
Online collaboration
User highlighting and annotations
What’s New On
Page 14 // XLPAT // October //2014
Patent Ratings and Tags:
Manage your patent portfolios online. Analyze the strength of your patents to make effective
business decision.
In the process of patent evaluation, you can now view a specific set of non-core patents (having
minimum or no economic value) to create a patent licensing map.
U.S.A
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DisclaimerWhile every care has been taken in the preparation of this News Bulletin to ensure its accuracy at the time of publication, TT Consultants assumes no responsibility for any errors which despite all precautions, may be found herein. Neither this bulletin nor the information contained herein constitutes a contract or will form the basis of a contract.
The material contained in this document does not constitute/substitute professional advice that maybe required before acting on any matter.
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