7th June , 2010
Paithani sarees to get GI tag
The handloom sarees with exquisite designs from Paithan town in Maharashtra's Aurangabad region are to receive patent protection in the form of Geographical Indications (GI).
The applications filed by Paithani Pratisthan Weavers' Association of Aurangabad and Mumbai-based Great Mission Group Consultancy (GMGC), and have been accepted and published in the journal by the Geographical Indications Registry.
This saree is beautifully crafted, with an exquisite zari border and is weaved in pure silk fabric with threads drawn from pure gold. This GI tag would allow the weavers, existing as a cottage industry in villages, to achieve best prices for their products in both domestic and international markets.
The authenticity and ethnic culture of Paithan would be preserved as production of fake or imitated Paithani sarees by machines in other states would be stopped by the government.
Chinese patent for ExhausTec to Bajaj
Bajaj Auto, the two-wheeler manufacturer has been granted a patent for its exhaust torque expansion chamber technology or ExhausTec in China by the Chinese State Intellectual Property Office.
This patented ExhausTec technology is used to improve power in single cylinder four stroke engines. A small chamber attached to the exhaust below the engine is used to change the back pressure from the engine thereby increasing the low and mid range performance of the engine resulting in increased load carrying capacity of a bike.
This technology has been used by the auto maker on its bikes since 2004, initially installing it on all Pulsar models and later on other models such as the Avenger, Discover and Platina. The company already has the patent for the technology in India, Europe, Mexico, Bangladesh, Costa Rica, Malaysia, and Iran.
GPC settles all patent infringement lawsuits with Verizon Wireless
A leading patent licensing and enforcement firm General Patent Corporation (GPC) on behalf of its subsidiary, Digital Technology Licensing (DTL) has reached a settlement with Cellco Partnership d/b/a Verizon Wireless on three lawsuits involving the DTL cellular communications patent.
DLT is a portfolio company of IP Holdings LLC and is managed by General Patent Corporation and owns US patent titled “Digital Output Transducer” relating to Adaptive Multi-Rate (AMR) codec and other cellular communication standards, assuring backward compatibility of cell phone handsets and base stations. This patent which is now expired also has applications in Bluetooth and other wireless devices.
DTL had filed two patent infringement lawsuits covering cellular service applications and one that covered Bluetooth applications of the related patent. Verizon Wireless and DTL agreed to settle all lawsuits after five years in patent litigation.
Google and USPTO sign deal
The US Patent Office has signed a two-year deal with Google to provide bulk downloads of patent and copyright data to the public. This service will be offered by Google at no charge to the government or to the data users.
The data would be available at Google Books website for downloading. Google has received about 10 terabytes of federal patent and copyright data. The search giant will no have any monetary gain from the service by selling advertising on the site, and that it plans to continue providing the data even after its deal with the Patent Office expires.
This access to free information would benefit technology companies and independent inventors and now people could effortlessly defend themselves against patent infringement suits. This deal between the Patent Office and Google is part of the Obama administration's effort to increase free electronic access to government documents free of cost, earlier bulk downloads required high prices.
European patent to Vermillion
Fremont, California-based Vermillion, Inc., a molecular diagnostics company has been issued a Decision to Grant patent by the European Patent Office. The patent entitled "Use of Biomarkers for Detecting Ovarian Cancer" has claims directed to biomarker combinations for the diagnosis and management of ovarian cancer and to the measurement of the biomarkers by a variety of methods, including mass spectrometry and immunoassay.
This patent grant in Europe would help the company’s efforts to expand their commerce in the EU. The company is actively engaged in the processes required to offer OVA1 in the EU.
OVA1 is a trademark of Vermillion Inc. It is a qualitative serum test that combines the results of five immunoassays into a single numerical score. The test uses five well-established biomarkers - Transthyretin (TT or prealbumin), Apolipoprotein A-1 (Apo A-1), beta 2-Microglobulin (beta 2M), Transferrin (Tfr) and Cancer Antigen 125 (CA 125 II) - and a proprietary FDA-cleared software device to determine the likelihood of malignancy in women with pelvic mass for whom surgery is planned. The company received FDA approval for the OVA1 test in September 2009 and began selling the test in the US in March this year.
Microsoft settles patent dispute with BackWeb
Microsoft, the software giant has settled a patent dispute with Israel-based BackWeb Technologies. BackWeb, which develops communications solutions for enterprises, had sued Microsoft in March last year alleging infringement of four of its patents related to automatic update technologies.
Microsoft has now lawfully licensed the patents in question and BackWeb has dropped its suit filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in San Francisco.
BackWeb's patents cover performing file transfers in the background between a user's PC and a server or between two PCs. They also support prioritizing simultaneous file transfers. The firm had claimed that Microsoft's Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS), as well as Windows Update and other automatic update technologies infringed BackWeb's patents, one dating back to 1999.
Israel joins the International Trademark System
Israel has joined the international trademark system following the Madrid Protocol for the International Registration of Marks with the Director General, WIPO. The Madrid System will become operational in Israel on September 1, 2010 and would offer trademark owners a cost-effective and efficient means of protecting and managing their trademark portfolio internationally.
Under the Madrid System a trademark owner may protect a mark in up to 85 countries by filing one application, in one language (English, French or Spanish), with one set of fees, in one currency (Swiss Francs). Applicants will have to apply for trademark protection in a relevant national or regional trademark office before seeking international protection. If protection is not turned down by the trademark office of a designated contracting party, the status of the mark is the same as if it had been registered by that office and international registration can be maintained and renewed through a single procedure and trademark holders can secure and maintain protection for their marks in many countries.
The Director General said that Israel’s membership will “facilitate market access and the channeling of resources to Israel by foreign trademark holders.”
Israel is the 85th member of the WIPO-administered international trademark system which is governed by the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks (1891) and the Madrid Protocol Relating to the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks (1989).
Acacia Research Unit Acquires Lighting Control Technology Patents
One of the subsidiaries of Acacia Research has purchased the patent rights on a lighting control technology. The patent rights are related to the control and energy efficiency features of lighting switches and circuits that are used in commercial and residential applications.
The company’s subsidiaries team up with patent owners and license those patents to corporate users. The revenue generated from patent licensing is shared between the subsidiaries and the patent owners. Currently the company’s subsidiaries have more than 150 patent portfolios on various technologies.
