28th August, 2009

IPL CLAIMS COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT

According to the organizers of IPL, there were 36 instances of trademark infringement that were profitably processed and over 2800 hours of clipings were shown across 109 channels during its second edition in South Africa this year, which "was in violation of broadcast media guidelines".

The organisers said that nearly 2400 unauthorised live streaming feeds and over 6700 unauthorised videos on the web were pulled down while over 1300 pirated blogs or websites were shut down after their intervention.

FILMS WILL GET COPYRIGHT ONLY IF DIRECTOR GETS CREDIT

In a move to give the director of a film equal right over his work and not the producer alone, the Copyright amendment bill seeks to extend the copyright term of films from 60 to 70 years provided the producer enters into a joint agreement with the director. The director will also share the royalty along with the producer. The bill is presently being examined by the law ministry.

All Bollywood classics and films made in India in the 1940s, whose copyright period of 60 years has expired, can have 10 more years of copyright.

ABBOTT LABS IN A PATENT DISPUTE OVER HEART STENTS

Bruce Saffran, a New Jersey doctor claiming that Abbott Laboratories has infringed his patent for heart devices, has sued the company which had recently lost the largest verdict in the history of patent litigation in June

Dr. Saffran said in his lawsuit that North Chicago-based Abbott has produced and sold products using his invention related to stents used to support open heart arteries.

An Abbott spokesperson, said that the patent is not valid and the company’s product does not infringe any patent. Abbott had to pay a record $1.67 billion to Johnson & Johnson for using its invention to produce the Humira arthritis drug in June this year.

IPHONE, LAPTOP FLASH STORAGE MENTIONED IN COMPLAINT WITH US ITC

Flash storage chips used by Apple, Research In Motion, Dell, Asus, Sony, Lenovo and other vendors will be examined by the U.S. ITC following a complaint by BTG International. BTG claims to have five patents on flash technology and has sought to ban the importation of the chips and devices that use them.

BTG had earlier sued Samsung in December last year for manufacturing these chips, alleging that some Samsung chips violate its patents on multilevel NAND flash memory. The chips are used in many products including the first-generation iPhone 8GB, MacBook Air, Asus Eee PC netbook, Lenovo ThinkPad X301, Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-T2 camera and flash cards and storage devices.
Other products named in the suit include the third-generation iPod Shuffle 4GB and second-generation iPod Touch 16GB. The Dell D630 and Sony Vaio VGN-TT190 laptops are named in addition to the Lenovo X301.

INTEL, AMD, NVIDIA, MICROSOFT, APPLE, GOOGLE SUED BY XPOINT

Xpoint has initiated a patent lawsuit against Microsoft, Intel, Marvell, Hewlett Packard, Cypress, Quicklogic, Freescale, Texas Instruments, Google, T Mobile, HTC, Apple, Sony, Ericsson, Sony Ericsson, Philips, LG Electronics, Research in Motion, Motorola, Nokia, Palm, Nvidia, AMD, Dell, AT&T, Verizon, Cellco and Sprint.

The patent in question relates to Client/Server Data Traffic Delivery System and Method and this patent increases the functionality for cellphones, media players, PCs, GPS, and other devices. Xpoint alleges that some of the defendants use the patent to transfer data from the camera sensor to the LCD screen in cellphones sold by them. They also allege that chipsets used in computers also infringe their patent.

BDSI WINS PATENT EXTENSION

BioDelivery Sciences International Inc. has received an extension on its patents for its BioErodible MucoAdhesive drug delivery technology for its product, Onsolis, until 2019.

The USPTO has extended the patent by 835 days. The company says it will work to get the patent extended again into early 2020.

BDSI has recently received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to market Onsolis for the management of pain in cancer patients who are tolerant to opioid therapy and are 18 years of age or older.

Onsolis uses BioErodible MucoAdhesive technology, a dissolvable polymer film applied to the inner lining of the cheek.

TWITTER DEPRIVED OF "TWEET" TRADEMARK

The USPTO has refused to register the term "tweet" as a trademark to be used by the popular microblogging site, Twitter.
Three companies, Tweetmarks, Cotweet and Tweetphoto that depend on Twitter's API are already fighting for the "tweet" trademark.

The USPTO apparently feels that Twitter is a bit too late and has officially recommended that all the tweeting birds to remain silent, or pay for penalties from lawsuits that may come up in the future.

OPRAH SUES INTERNET COMPANIES FOR TRADEMARK

Oprah Winfrey alleges that her name was used without her consent by some Internet companies to sell dietary supplements containing acai berries.

Winfrey's company, Harpo Inc., has filed suit against 40 distributors of acai berry-containing products, alleging that they have used her name for commercial gain, by tempting consumers into ordering their products on the false basis that Ms. Winfrey has recommended them which according to her is not true. The companies included in the lawsuit are FWM Laboratories, CPX Interaxtive, Netalab, Gillmap Ltd., Natures perfection and Minired UAB.

During one of Winfrey's shows on leading healthier lives, the anti-aging properties of the acai berry were praised. This gave rise to the illegally using of Winfrey's name to sell the products of the above mentioned companies.

Two separate lawsuits have been filed against three suppliers, Advanced Wellness Research and its successor Netalab, Crush LLC and its owner, TMP Nevada Inc., and Amirouche & Norton and they wish to prevent the companies from selling dietary supplements, and  demanded $50,000 as penalties.