Friday, January 25, 2008 4:00am — IP THINKTANK GLOBAL WEEK IN REVIEW

IP Think Tank Global Week in Review - 25 January 2008

Here is IP Think Tank’s weekly selection of top intellectual property news breaking in the blogosphere and internet.

Please join the discussion by adding your comments on any of these stories, and please do let me know if you think we’ve missed something important, or if there is a source you think should be monitored.

You can separately subscribe to the IP Thinktank Global week in Review at http://feeds.feedburner.com/DuncanBucknellsGlobalWeekInReview

Highlights this week included:

• Chinese company Zhongyi Electronic sues Microsoft for alleged patent infringement relating to technology that converts Roman characters to Chinese characters: (Jurist), (China Hearsay), (IP Dragon),
• US Patent reform and surrounding controversy: general commentary and opinions: (Patent Baristas), (IPBiz), (IPBiz), (IPBiz), (Patent Docs), (Washington State Patent Law Blog), (Patent Docs), (Patent Docs), (Patent Prospector), (Patent Baristas),
• Tarceva (Erlotinib) – Roche patent infringement action against CIPLA before Delhi High Court over Tarceva patent: (Spicy IP), (Patent Circle), (21 Jan update - Spicy IP), (22 Jan update - Spicy IP), (Generic Pharmaceuticals & IP), (24 Jan update - Spicy IP), (Patent Circle),

Global

• Funhouse mirror: distorting the perception of patents: (Patent Prospector),
• What to do with orphan IP?: (IP ThinkTank),
• Who owns your IP – who should?: (IP ThinkTank),
• IBM patents and defensive publishing: (Securing Innovation),
• Stockholm Network paper on developing nations and pharmaceutical patents: (IPcentral Weblog),
• Good and bad news for the IP industry if recession does bite: (IAM),
• Business Software Alliance: Piracy economic impact is tens of billions of dollars: (Ars Technica),
• IP portfolio costs – when less is more: (IP ThinkTank),
• IP protection: Competitive market default: (The Fire of Genius),
• Creative Commons licences are useful but oversold: (Dilanchian),
• OECD releases new research on emerging national innovation practices in member countries: (IPcentral)

Pharma

• EC’s pharma sector inquiry over misuse of patents: (IPKat), (IP Law360), (more from IP Law360), (Mondaq),
• FDC Reports launches PharmaAsiaNews.com to capture pharma news from India, China and Japan: (Spicy IP),
• GSK letter to Senators Leahy and Specter regarding the Senate Judiciary Report on the Patent Reform Bill: (PLI), (Patent Prospector), (IP Law360),
• Indian government to weed out ‘irrational’ patent and proprietary drugs: (Spicy IP), (Medindia.com),
• Recommended reading: Economic Times article on patents in the pharma sector and how small companies are using patents: (Generic Pharmaceuticals & IP),
• Elli Lilly warns drug imports to US would boost counterfeit medicines: (BIO SmartBrief),
• Supreme Court declines to review ruling by the CAFC that there is no constitutional right to access experimental drugs: (California Biotech Law Blog),

• India: Kaul J reserves judgment in J Mitra v Span Diagnostics patent infringement/invalidity proceedings related to Hep C diagnostic technology: (Spicy IP),

• Europe: Jacob Fleming conference on pharma and biotech IP and litigation in February: (Generic Pharmaceuticals & IP),

• US: FDA removes teeth from exclusivity forfeiture: (IP Law360)

• Aptivus (Tipranavir) – Boehringer decides not to register Tipranavir in Brazil?: (Generic Pharmaceuticals & IP),
• Arava (Leflunomide) – Sanofi-Aventis loses bid to dismiss Louisiana Wholsesale Drug Co’s antitrust claims accusing S-A of unlawfully blocking generic competition for Arava by filing a sham Citizen Petition with the USFDA: (IP Law360),
• Ciprofloxacin – CIPLA issued notice by National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority for allegedly overpricing its antibiotic Ciprofloxacin (especially of note because CIPLA is objecting to Roche’s high price for Tarceva in Roche v CIPLA patent suit before the Delhi High Court): (Spicy IP)
• Crestor (Rosuvastatin) – Torrent brings pre-grant opposition against AstraZeneca’s anti-cholesterol drug Rosuvastatin but unclear against which application the opposition has been made: (Patent Circle),
• Exelon (Rivastigmine) – Dr Reddys settles US patent dispute with Novartis over dementia treatment Exelon: (Generic Pharmaceuticals & IP), (IP Law360),
• Imitrex (Sumatriptan) – Ranbaxy settles US patent dispute with GSK over migraine drug Imitrex: (Generic Pharmaceuticals & IP), (BIO SmartBrief), (IP Law360), (GenericsWeb),
• Kaletra (Lopinavir/Ritonvair) – Developments on Kaletra/Abbott’s registration withdrawal in Thailand: (Generic Pharmaceuticals & IP),
• Kytril (Granisetron) – FDA issues response on generic Kytril; Teva’s argument takes the day and the company gets 180-day exclusivity: (FDA Law Blog), (Generic Pharmaceuticals & IP),
• Nexium (Esomeprazole) – AstraZeneca commences patent infringement action against Dr Reddy’s Laboratories to block generic version of the heartburn drug: (IP Law360),
• Ortho Tri-Cyclen (Norgestimate/Ethinyl Estradiol) - Barr Pharmaceuticals in negotiations with Johnson & Johnson unit to resolve four-year patent dispute over oral contraceptive pill Ortho Tri-Cyclen: (IP Law360),
• Prevacid (Lansoprazole) – Teva announces USFDA’s tentative approval of generic Prevacid: (GenericsWeb),
• Protonix (Pantoprazole) - Teva agrees to extend standstill agreement with rivals Altana Pharma AG and Wyeth Pharmaceuticals Inc. while the companies work to settle dispute over Teva's generic version of Altana's heartburn drug Protonix: (IP Law360), (GenericsWeb),
• Risperdal (Risperidone) – Teva seeks relisting of Johnson & Johnson’s Risperdal patent and asserts right to 180-day exclusivity: (Orange Book Blog),
• Seasonique (Levonorgestrel/Ethinyl Estradiol) – US Patent Office issues patent for Barr Pharmaceuticals’ extended cycle oral contraceptive: (BIO SmartBrief),
• Tarceva (Erlotinib) – Roche patent infringement action against CIPLA before Delhi High Court over Tarceva patent: (Spicy IP), (Patent Circle), (21 Jan update - Spicy IP), (22 Jan update - Spicy IP), (Generic Pharmaceuticals & IP), (24 Jan update - Spicy IP), (Patent Circle),
• Tarceva (Erlotinib) – Roche’s Tarceva patent infringement action against CIPLA before Delhi High Court and the impact of Bajaj: (Generic Pharmaceuticals & IP),
• Valcyte (Valganciclovir) – Update/correction on patent for Valganciclovir: (Generic Pharmaceuticals & IP),
• Viread (Tenofovir) – US Patent Office rejects key HIV/AIDS drug patents at Public Patent Foundation request: Government finds prior art submitted by the Foundation invalidates all of Gilead Sciences’ claims: (Public Patent Foundation), (Generic Pharmaceuticals & IP), (GenericsWeb), (IP Law360)

Africa

• Recent article of interest: ‘Staving off expungement: the 'engineered' use of a trademark in South African, UK and EC Law’: (Afro-IP),
• Botswana calls on United Nations to take a more forceful role on free trade in Africa focusing on global trade and IP regimes: (Afro-IP),
• Africa preferred route for Chinese counterfeits to Europe: (IP Dragon),  
• Tanzania increases powers to seize counterfeits: (Afro-IP),
• Zimbabwe re-launches Anti-Piracy Organisation: (Afro-IP)

Australia

• Atorney-General releases new copyright issues paper on private copying of films and photos: (LawFont.com), (IPwar’s), (Michael Geist),
• Government publishes  ‘Biotechnology Business Indicators November 2007’, including statistics about market capitalisation, clinical trial announcements and approvals and patents granted: (IPwar’s),
• IP Australia publishes Position Paper following public consultation on incorporation of patent and trade marks attorney practices: (IPwar’s),

Brazil

• Challenge raised to constitutionality of Brazilian pipeline patents: (Intellectual Property Watch)

Canada

• Access Copyright updates public domain registry plans: (Michael Geist),
• Privacy Commissioner warns against weakening privacy through Canadian DMCA: (Michael Geist), (Out-Law), (Ars Technica),
• Copyright columns by Michael Geist: ‘Fair copyright provides Prentice with reform roadmap’ and ‘Copyright reform a potential threat to privacy’: (Michael Geist),
• The Creators’ Copyright Coalition on copyright reform: (Michael Geist),
• Canadian Copyright Lobby seeking mandated ISP filtering: (Michael Geist),
• Canadian labels: We get ‘absolutely zero credit’ for not suing fans: (Ars Technica),
• The copyright MPs: (Michael Geist),
• CIPO adopts US electronic signature format, tests patent prosecution highway: (IP Updates),
• IFPI's focus on ISPs and the push for content blocking: (Michael Geist),
• MPAA acknowledges major error in much-promoted study about the impact of movie piracy: (Michael Geist)

China

• Applications and grants on the rise in China: (IAM),
• China gets ready for National IP Strategy: (Philip Brooks), (IP Updates),
• Microsoft defends unregistered ‘Windows’ trademark in China, claiming the mark is famous in its battle with a Ningbo eye-glass company: (China Law Blog),
• Chinese company Zhongyi Electronic sues Microsoft for alleged patent infringement relating to technology that converts Roman characters to Chinese characters: (Jurist), (China Hearsay), (IP Dragon),
• Louis Vuitton fails to invalidate LOUYIVEITEN trade mark in China: (Post-Grant)

Europe

• Copiepresse may sue EC for copyright infringement in respect of its links to agency websites: (IPKat),
• Microsoft ruling may not bolster Europe’s new case, warns lawyer: (Out-Law),
• Rambus Inc. fails in its attempt to save most of its patent for a memory-chip design, the validity of which was challenged by Hynix Semiconductor Inc. and Micron Technology Inc.: (IPKat),
• AG confirms distribution requires transfer of ownership in C-456/06 Peek & Cloppenberg: (IPKat), (Out-Law),
• The Greens/European Free Alliance advocate file-swapping with ‘I wouldn’t steal’ campaign: (Ars Technica),
• IP addresses could become ‘personal information’ in Europe: (Ars Technica),
• Proposed EU ISP filtering and copyright extension shot down: (Ars Technica),
• EU appears to ditch plans to extend the term of sound recordings, and also to require ISPs to filter content: (IPKat),
• Google accuses EU of attempting to use antitrust laws to tackle privacy issues in connection with its proposed acquisition of advertising company DoubleClick: (Out-Law),
• Protecting privileged information in EU investigations: (IP Law360),
• EU rules that Crocs shoes lack distinctive character: (IP Factor), 
• Slovenia ’s plans for European IP: (IPKat),
• European Patent Office starts pilot project aimed at translating manually the abstracts and claims of Chinese utility documents: (IP Updates), 
• Europe quietly ramps up its copyright enforcement: (IP Law360)

India

• Hasbro and Mattel demand closure of Scrabulous gaming website: (IP Factor), (Patent Librarian’s Notebook), (contentSutra), (Anticipate This!),

• India gets International Search Authority status: (Spicy IP),

• Paper on the Madras High Court’s decision in Novartis’ challenge of the TRIPS compatibility and constitutionality of s 3(d) of India’s patent regime: (Spicy IP),
• Is Indian patent law TRIPS compliant?: (Spicy IP),
• Number of Indian patent grants in 2007: (Spicy IP),
• Bajaj-TVS patent dispute: An update from the Supreme Court: (Spicy IP),
• Geographical indications make their mark in Bihar & Orissa: (Spicy IP),
• Herbal cure for diabetes II granted patent: (Spicy IP), (Generic Pharmaceuticals & IP),
• Brittania gets the better of Unibic in Court in its comparative advertising case: (Spicy IP),
• Launch of Indian Kanoon – free online resource for Indian judgments: (Spicy IP),
• LegalAdda: new Indian legal portal launched: (Spicy IP),
• Bombay High Court rules that trade mark cannot be claimed for common, descriptive English words in battle between ITC and GTC: (Mondaq),
• A patent problem for India: (IAM),
• IP disputes resolved through out of court settlement: (Mondaq),
• Prima facie legal right required for interim protection: (International Law Office)

Israel

• Zip trade mark voided in Israel for non-use: (The IP Factor)

Italy

• For the first time Italian Courts exercised their jurisdiction as Community Trade Mark Courts in two cases regarding the protection of the Vuitton monogram: (Catch Us If You Can!!!)

Japan

• Japan to block imports of some Nanya DRAM chips after Fujitsu complaint: (Philip Brooks)

Malaysia

• Must the Registrar be made a party to the proceedings?: (International Law Office)

Spain

• Criminal sentence for counterfeiting Nokia mobile phones: (International Law Office)

United Kingdom

• How agreements lead to disagreements: Satyam Computer Services Ltd v Upaid Systems Ltd: (IPKat)
• Beware: The ICO will take enforcement action against infringers of the Data Protection Act: (Mondaq),
• Patent and trade mark attorneys to pay a high price if they want to be considered part of the legal profession as a result of the failure of the professional bodies to agree merger terms: (Filemot),
• Competition defence to go ahead in Football Association Premier League Ltd and others v LCD Publishing Ltd concerning unauthorised publication of photos football club members and Football Association Premier League Ltd v QC Leisure & Ors concerning the contractually prohibited providence of non-UK decoder cards to UK pubs: (IPKat), (coverage of FAPL v QC also at Out-Law),
• Court of Appeal reverses lower court’s decision in Cinpres Gas Injection Ltd v Melea Ltd, a patent infringement case involving allegedly fraudulent evidence: (IPKat),
• Murdoch v Branson in UK TV patent battle relating to interactive program guide technology: (IPKat)

United States

• 4th Circuit holds foreign company with no US employees, locations, or business must produce designee to testify at deposition in Virginia as it filed a trademark application with the USPTO, which is located there: Rosenruist-Gestao E Servicos LDA, v. Virgin Enterprises Ltd.: (Australian Trade Marks Law Blog),
• Donation profiles of key figures in patent reform: (Erin-Michael Gill),
• Patent reform and surrounding controversy: general commentary and opinions: (Patent Baristas), (IPBiz), (IPBiz), (IPBiz), (Patent Docs), (Washington State Patent Law Blog), (Patent Docs), (Patent Docs), (Patent Prospector), (Patent Baristas),
• Does the current patent reform bill help small business in any way?: (IPBiz)
• Senate Patent Reform Bill on inequitable conduct: (Patent Docs), (IP Updates),
• Senate Patent Reform Bill on first-to-file: (IP Updates),
• Senate Patent Reform Bill on assignee filing: (IP Updates),
• Senate Patent Reform Bill on damages: (IP Updates), (Patent Prospector),
• Draft Report on Senate Patent Reform Bill: Post-grant procedures: (Patent Docs), (IP Updates),
• Senate Patent Reform Bill on application publication and third party submissions: (IP Updates), (Patent Docs),
• Sen Reid: patent reform a priority: (Peter Zura's 271 Patent Blog), (Anticipate This!), (Patent Prospector),
• IPO: Senate Patent Reform Bill to get vote in February: (IP Updates),
• Copyright: The natural rights issue: (Patry Copyright Blog), (response from Against Monopoly),
• The latest on internet-based jurisdictions: (Likelihood of confusion)
• The Patent Office has become a national disgrace (circa 1930): (Patent Baristas),
• Microsoft ‘spyware’ patent: (IPBiz),
• CAFC hits side-impact sensor: The importance of enablement: (Intellectual Property Directions),
• TTAB finds ‘OLD TIMER’ and ‘OLD TIMERS’ HOCKEY CHALLENGE’  for clothing too dissimilar: In re Taylor Brands: (TTABlog),
• USPTO announces it will initiate patent prosecution highway pilot programs with the IP Offices of Korea and Canada: (Patent Docs),
• Opinions of counsel to defend against allegations of induced infringement: (IP Updates),
• ‘Between’ construed as ‘only between’: Outside the Box Innovations v Travel Caddy: (IP Updates), (Patent Prospector),
• The fundamentals of the written description requirement and strategies for responding to written description rejections – Part I: (patentablydefined.com),
• Top-level domain for the almost totally uninhabited United States Minor Outlying Islands (.um) is now accepting domain registrations: (IPKat), (IP Updates),
• Debating copyright reform: time for compulsory licenses?: (Ars Technica),
• Royalty audit checklists: (Mondaq),
• Ninth Circuit takes a restrictive approach to claims of copyright in sculptural works depicting real animals: Satava v Lowry: (Patry Copyright Blog),
• Second Life raises novel IP issues including whether use of a trade mark exclusively in a virtual world can be ‘use in commerce’: (Mondaq),
• Effects of non-practising entity patents on innovation: (Peter Zura's 271 Patent Blog),
• Fear of getting caught not really a plagiarism deterrent: (IPBiz),
• USPTO statistics: fewer allowances, more appeals: (IP Spotlight),
• Design patents: Claim construction rules lead to summary judgment of non-infringement: (Patently-O),
• Is the media convincing the public that the patent system is ‘broken’?: (Peter Zura's 271 Patent Blog),
• Will eBay v MercExchange lead to compulsory licensing?: (Chicago IP Litigation Blog),
• The ten worst TTAB decisions of 2007?: (Part 1 - TTABlog), (Part 2 – TTABlog),
• 2007 top US patent assignees from ISIClaims: (Patent Librarian’s Notebook),
• Northern District’s 2007 trade mark case filings down 9%: (Chicago IP Litigation Blog),
• KSR moves US toward European standard for inventive step: (IP Updates),
• KSR obviousness claims another victim, Sang Su Lee: (Patent Prospector),
• USPTO announcement on ‘duty to disclose’ language in oaths/declarations: (Peter Zura's 271 Patent Blog), (PLI), (Patently-O), (Anticipate This!), (patentablydefined.com), (Patent Prospector), (Patent Docs), (IP Updates),
• Non-resident filings as a percentage of total filings by Office: (Patently-O),
• 8th Circuit rejects probationary teacher’s claim of copyright infringement in a hall pass for elementary school students: Clark v Crues: (Patry Copyright Blog),
• Fraud as a basis for trade mark cancellation: Medinol v Neuro Vasx: (Mondaq),
• ICANN seeks independence from US: (IPKat), (Ars Technica),
• TTAB rule of thumb: Introduce no evidence, lose your opposition: (TTABlog),
• IFPI fantasy: 2008 the year ISP filtering ‘becomes reality’: (Ars Technica),
• Store brands come out ahead as the 3rd Circuit addresses claims of trade dress infringement by store brand artificial sweetener products: McNeil Nutritionals, LLC v. Heartland Sweeteners, LLC: (Mondaq),
• ‘Famous marks’ doctrine not recognized by New York Appeals Court: (International Law Office)

• Abbott – Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit hands down judgment in Abbott and Innogenetics’ patent dispute relating to Hepatitis C Virus genotyping technology: (Patent Baristas), (Patent Docs), (IP Updates), (more from IP Updates), (Patently-O),
• Alexsam – Alexsam files suit against Shell Oil Co, Peir 1 Imports and Metromedia Steakhouses Co for infringement of patent related to multifunctional card technology: (IP Law360),
• Amazon – Court maintains DJ jurisdiction over Amazon’s counterclaim in patent dispute with Cordance Corp over software related to personal address books: (Delaware IP Law Blog), (IP Law360),
• Baldwin – CAFC delivers findings on claim construction in Baldwin Graphic Systems v Siebert: (Anticipate This!),
• Biomedical Patent Management - CAFC rules that a state’s waiver of Eleventh Amendment sovereign immunity in an earlier action that is dismissed ‘does not extend to the separate lawsuit’ of Biomedical Patent Management v State of California: (Patent Baristas), (Peter Zura's 271 Patent Blog), (Patent Prospector), (Patently-O),
• CytoLogix: 1st Circuit dismisses appeal to combine patent infringement and antitrust lawsuits against Ventana Medical Systems: (IP Law360),
• Diomed – Total Vein Solutions files for bankruptcy before hearing in long-running patent dispute with Diomed over endovascular laser treatment technology: (IP Law360),
• Gawker Media – Scientologists threaten Gawker with legal action over use of video depicting Tom Cruise touting Church of Scientology: (Trademark Blog),
• Google – Google drops defense lawyers in Viacom copyright infringement case: (IP Law360),
• IBM – Taiwanese company, CpuMate commences patent infringement action against IBM over heat-dissipation device used in computers: (IP Law360),
• IBM – Former IBM engineer has sued several companies over his patents for fixing computer data errors allowed to add a claim of trade secrets misappropriation against three defendants for allegedly passing infringing material to defendant Sony Electronics Inc: (IP Law360),
• Illumina – Summary judgment denied in patent dispute between Applera and Illumina: (IP Law360),
• Junction Solutions – Court finds different harms allow re-litigation of trade secret misappropriation in Junction Solutions v MBS Dev: (Chicago IP Litigation Blog),
• LG Electronics – Supreme Court hears argument in Quanta v LG regarding exhaustion of patent rights: (Mondaq), (another article from Mondaq),
• LG Electronics – Whirlpool files ITC action against LG over technology used refrigerators: (IPBiz), (The IP Factor), (IP Law360),
• LG Electronics – LG and others sued by Ennova Direct for allegedly infringing the company’s flash memory drive patent: (IP Law360)
• Microsoft – Microsoft and JVC enter into patent cross-licensing agreement to foster mutual innovation and collaboration: (PR Newswire),
• Minerva – Minerva asserts new patent relating to cellular technology against Apple and numerous others: (Patent Troll Tracker), (IP Law360), (Ars Technica),
• Negotiated Data Solutions (known as N-Data) - Federal Trade Commission claims authority to enforce against a N-Data for allegedly charging excess licensing royalties for standardized Ethernet patents:  (IP Law360), (Ars Technica), (IP Updates), (PLI), (Peter Zura's 271 Patent Blog), (Patently-O),
• Oculus - $6.6m awarded to Oculus in trade secret suit against Nofil Corp: (IP Law360),
• Qualcomm – Court sets baseline for electronic discovery programs for in-house and retained counsel in Qualcomm v Broadcom Corp: (Mondaq), (IP Law360), (IP Updates), (Philip Brooks),
• Recording Industry Association of America – P2P defendant argues RIAA identified an IP address, not a person involved in alleged infringing activities in Atlantic v Njuguna: (Ars Technica),
• Retractable Technologies - Federal Judge agrees to sever Retractable's antitrust claims from the patent infringement claims it brought against rival medical-technology-maker Becton Dickinson and Co: (IP Law360),
• Samsung – ITC to investigate Samsung's claims that Japan-based Sharp Corp. and its U.S. subsidiaries are infringing LCD patents through the importation of televisions, laptops and cell phones: (IP Law360),
• Sprint Nextel – Sprint Nextel asserts VOP patents against mobile service providers, Big River Telephone Co., Broadvox Holdings LLC, NuVox Communications Inc. and Paetec Communications: (IP Law360),
• Synergetic – Eye surgery equipment maker, Synergetics, settles with former employees over trade secrets and patent infringement dispute: (IP Law360),
• Visto – Magistrate Judge defines email patent claims in Visto case: (IP Law360)

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