IP Think Tank Global Week in Review – 18 January 2008

  Posted on January 18, 2008 By

 Comment

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:

 

Global

  • 101 reasons for not
    selling your unused trade marks: (IPKat),
  • ICANN to battle domain
    name tasting: (Trademark
    Blog    ), (related coverage from Trademark
    Blog    ),
  • Is a patent a monopoly?:
    (Against
    Monopoly    ),
  • Structuring a
    decentralized world – Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies: The
    necessity of open biotechnology: (Patent Lens),
  • A skeptical look at the Automated Content Access
    Protocol: (Ars
    Technica    ),
  • 5 practical things to incorporate in a corporate
    IP strategy: (IP
    ThinkTank    ),

  • Legal models for online content enforcement: (OpenContentLawyer),
  • Germany,
    Chinese copies and misdirected ‘strategy’: (IP
    ThinkTank    )

Pharma

 

  • Fosamax (Alendronate) –
    Patent protection to end Feb 2008, so Merck organizes authorized generic
    version of drug with unidentified company: (Generic
    Pharmaceuticals & IP    ), (IP
    Law360    ),
  • Gemzar (Gemcitabine) – Eli
    Lilly and Co. resumes action against Mayne Pharma (USA) Inc. for
    infringement of two patents related to chemotherapy drug Gemzar: (IP
    Law360    ),
  • Gleevec/Glivec (Imatinib)
    – Okasa files pre-grant opposition to Novartis’ Indian patent application
    for alpha crystal form of Imatinib: (Spicy
    IP    ), (related coverage from Spicy
    IP    ), (Generic
    Pharmaceuticals & IP    ),
  • Gleevec/Glivec (Imatinib)
    – Novartis’ crystalline form strategy: (IP ThinkTank),
  • Kytril (Granisetron) –
    Teva receives exclusivity for Granisetron from FDA: (Generic
    Pharmaceuticals & IP    ),
  • Lipitor (Atorvastatin) –
    USPTO issues first communication in the reexamination of the ‘893 basic
    patent for Lipitor, initially rejecting the patent’s claims: (Pfizer.com),
    (Generic
    Pharmaceuticals & IP    ), (IP
    Law360    ), (Reuters),
  • Miacalcin (Calcitonin) –
    30 day stay for Miacalcin patent infringement case so Novartis and Apotex
    can attempt to reach a settlement: (IP
    Law360    ),
  • Namenda (Memantine) – Forest
    Laboratories Inc. file patent infringement lawsuits against Teva, Barr and
    others seeking to sell generic versions of Namenda, a treatment for
    Alzheimer’s disease: (The
    IP Factor    ), (Spicy
    IP    ), (SmartBrief),
    (IP
    Law360    ),
  • Namenda (Memantine) –
    Barr challenges Forest Laboratories’ Namenda patent: (SmartBrief),
    (Generics
    Web    ),
  • OxyContin (Oxycodone) –
    District Court finds no inequitable conduct by Purdue in antitrust
    litigation: (Patent
    Docs    ),
  • Saquinavir – Roche
    Holding AG entering into four new cost-free technology transfers with
    local manufacturers in Africa, helping
    them make generic HIV medicine: (Afro-IP),
  • Solodyn (Minocycline) – Impax
    challenges Medicis Pharmaceutical Corp.’s patent for popular acne
    medication in hopes of launching a generic version of the drug: (SmartBrief),
    (IP
    Law360    ),
  • Sustiva (Efavirenz) –
    Grant of licences to produce generics fail to bring price of key HIV drug
    down in South Africa:
    (Afro-IP),
  • Tarceva (Erlotinib) –
    Cipla going ahead with launch of generic despite Natco’s failed pre-grant
    opposition to Roche’s Indian patent: (Generic
    Pharmaceuticals & IP    ),
  • Tarceva (Erlotinib) – Natco
    seeks India’s first ‘Doha style’ compulsory license to export Roche’s
    anti-cancer drug to Nepal:
    (Spicy
    IP    ), (Patent
    Circle    ), (Generic
    Pharmaceuticals & IP    ),
  • Trileptal (Oxcarbazepine)
    – Taro Pharmaceutical Industries and Breckenridge Pharmaceutical settle
    patent litigation over oxcarbazepine with Novartis: (IP
    Law360    ), (Generics Web),
  • Valcyte (Valganciclovir)
    – Discussion of news report regarding Chennai Patent Office granting
    Valganciclovir patent to Roche, when a corresponding US application was rejected in the USA:
    (Generic
    Pharmaceuticals & IP    )

Africa

  • Filmmakers
    of Nigeria USA working toward reduction of piracy of Nigerian films: (Afro-IP),
  • World
    Customs Organisation warns that Africa, not China,
    is main concern in Europe’s fight against
    counterfeit goods: (Afro-IP),
  • Establishment
    of interim measures for the regulation of bio-trade activities in Namibia:
    (Spicy
    IP    ),
  • Dispute
    over use of ‘Adventist’ trade mark in Rwanda: (Afro-IP),
  • South
    African headquartered De Beers to pay $295m in class action settlement after it
    was accused of unlawfully monopolising the supply of diamonds, conspiring to
    fix diamond prices and issuing false and misleading advertising in the United States:
    (Afro-IP)

Australia

  • Lleyton Hewitt’s ‘C’mon’
    trade marks may overreach: (Australian
    Trade Marks Law Blog    ),
  • Federal Court finds
    copyright in files comprising source code, but no infringement: Dais
    Studio Pty Ltd v Bullet Creative Pty Ltd    : (Mondaq),
  • Trade Mark Office allows
    registration of  ‘InFocusDVD.com.au’,
    despite opposition by InFocus Corporation: (Mondaq),
  • Patent Office finds in
    favour of Nektar on the issue of fair basing in Alkerme’s opposition to
    Nektar’s patent relating to the use of perforated microparticles for delivery
    of an immunoactive agent: (Mondaq),
  • Designs Office finds that
    confidentiality was lost once patent application made in Dennis
    Gravolin and Trailer Vision Pty Ltd v Locmac Holdings Pty Ltd as trustee
    for Locmac Trust    : (Mondaq)

Canada

China

Denmark

Europe

  • Croatia and Norway ratify European Patent
    Convention: (The
    IP Factor    ),
  • Crucial EPO ‘Future
    workload’ report finally made public: (IAM),
  • EU launches new antitrust
    investigation against Microsoft concerning interoperability of some of
    Microsoft’s products and tying of Internet Explorer to the Windows
    operating system: (Ars
    Technica    ), (Out-Law),
    (Copyfight),
  • Punitive fees for excess
    claims from 1 April 2008:
    (Mondaq),
    (Peter
    Zura’s 271 Patent Blog    ),
  • AG Colomer issues decision
    in Adidas v H&M concerning the role of the need to keep certain
    marks free for other traders once a mark has acquired distinctiveness, and
    on the role of consumers’ perceptions that the mark is an embellishment: (IPKat), (Catch
    Us If You Can!!!    ),
  • Document Security Systems
    has French patent revoked in its dispute with European Central Bank regarding
    anti-forgery technology: (IPKat),
  • European Communities’
    deadline to comply with WTO Panel Decision on approval and marketing of
    biotech products, including an end to national bans on GM products
    otherwise approved by the EU as a whole: (Patenting
    Lives    ),
  • Court of First Instance
    finds no likelihood of confusion between word mark AMPLITUDE and
    figurative mark consisting of the word ‘Amply’ for eyeglasses in Kabushiki
    Kaisha, v OHIM, Indo Internacional SA    : (IPKat),
  • CFI dismisses IKEA’s appeal in Case T‑112/06,
    Inter-Ikea Systems BV v Office for Harmonisation in the Internal
    Market, Walter Waibel     deciding there was no likelihood of confusion
    between the IKEA and IDEA figurative marks registered for identical goods
    and services: (IPKat),
  • Further steps in EU patent policy under Slovenian EU presidency: (IP::JUR)

India

  • Controller of Patents upholds
    Bilcare’s patent in post grant opposition proceeding despite High Court’s
    leaning toward patent invalidity: (Spicy
    IP    ),
  • Bajaj v TVS – India
    plugging ahead on patent litigation highway: (Spicy
    IP    ),
  • Will India become the new Vanguard
    of the open source movement?: (Spicy
    IP    ),
  • Moral rights under
    copyright laws: A peep into policy – 3: (Spicy
    IP    ),
  • Federation of Indian
    Chambers of Commerce and Industry launches IP newsletter: (Spicy
    IP    ),
  • Candico loses
    longstanding ‘Big Bubble’ trade mark dispute with Perfetti: (Spicy
    IP    ),
  • High Court rules ‘no use
    of ‘Magnum’ as trade mark’ in ITC v GTC Industries: (Spicy
    IP    ), (IP
    Factor    ),
  • Encore Electronics Ltd
    v Anchor Electronics and Electricals Pvt. Ltd    : deceptive similarity
    between ‘Encore’ and ‘Anchor’ trade marks in vernacular script: (Mondaq),
  • Nandhini Deluxe v
    Nandhini    : Prior use favours registration as trade marks: (Mondaq),
  • Delhi High Court allows
    organisers of “Durga Puja”, a hindu festival, to use images from
    JK Rowling’s Harry Potter novels: (Mondaq),
  • .asia domain name ‘land
    rush’: A gold mine for cybersquatters: (Mondaq),
  • Hasbro and Mattel allege
    trade mark infringement and demand shut down of Scrabulous, a free online
    gaming site allowing users to play a version of Scrabble: (Spicy
    IP    ), (IPKat),
    (Patry
    Copyright Blog    ), (Trademark
    Blog    ), (John Caroll),
    (contentSutra),
    (phosita),
    (IPLaw360),
  • Pills, potions and IPR:
    Tales from folk medicine: (Spicy
    IP    ),
  • Deceptive similarity: Is
    an interim injunction really necessary?: (International
    Law Office    )

Ireland

  • Irish Supreme Court rules
    that Irish courts can demand data mining in electronic discovery: (Out-Law)

Japan

  • JPO to cut patent and
    trade mark fees: (IP
    Updates    )

Lithuania

Philippines

Russia

  • New Russian Civil Code that came into effect 1 January 2008 makes Russian
    patents unenforceable: (The
    IP Factor    ), (IP
    Spotlight    )

Singapore

  • Registered trade mark – use it or lose it!: (Mondaq)

Sweden

United Kingdom

  • UK
    public consultation on copyright exceptions: (LawFont),
    (Intellectual
    Property Law Blog    ), (Mondaq),
  • UK
    restoration requirements, and why they were changed (UK Patent Office decision
    BL 0/357/07): (IPKat),
  • British software pirate faces up to 10 years in
    jail: (Out-Law),
  • New ‘fast track’ trade mark service: (Out-Law), (IP
    Menu    ), (IPR
    Helpdesk    ),
  • New version of online patent filing system: (IPR
    Helpdesk    )
  • UK Court of Appeal
    explains that when considering whether a community design has been
    infringed, the court must take the position of an objective ‘informed user’
    in Procter & Gamble Co v Reckitt Benckiser (UK) Ltd: (Mondaq),

 

United States

  • Quanta v LG Electronics –
    Supreme Court hears oral argument in patent exhaustion case between Quanta
    and LG: (Post-Grant),
    (IP
    ThinkTank    ), (Patent
    Troll Tracker    ), (IP
    Law360    ), (Patent
    Prospector    ), (Patently-O),
    (Peter
    Zura’s 271 Patent Blog    ), (Anticipate
    This!    ), (Chicago
    IP Litigation Blog    ), (more from Chicago
    IP Litigation Blog    ), (Washington
    State Patent Law Blog    ), (Harold Wegner),
  • Student challenges Barack
    Obama’s use of the phrase ‘Change Rocks’, claiming he registered the
    phrase as a trade mark and uses it for jewellery: (IPKat),
  • Troll call and other
    statistics for December 2007: (Patent
    Troll Tracker    ),
  • US Supreme Court allows ‘Dykes
    on Bikes’ trade mark: (The
    IP Factor    ),
  • Licensing professionals
    in the US and Canada
    not greatly concerned about litigation but worried about a growing anti-IP
    environment: (IAM),
  • US Court of Appeals affirms
    ruling that where the product on which a mark is affirmed cannot be seen
    by a customer, there is no likelihood of confusion – Custom Mfg. &
    Eng’g, Inc. v Midway Services    : (Mondaq),
  • Tafas v Dudas:  The need for presidential appointment of
    patent experts to lead the patent system: (Harold Wegner),
  • Wegner’s 2008 top ten
    patent cases: (Harold Wegner),
  • 2007 – An exciting year
    for patent law: (Intellectual
    Property Law Blog    ),
  • Frank Zappa’s estate
    sends cease and desist letters to blogs, tribute bands and a European
    memorial concert celebrating Zappa’s musical works: (IPKat),
    (Patry
    Copyright Blog    ),
  • Buddy Holly’s widow asserts rights in her late
    husband’s name, image, trade marks to halt Peggy Sue from publishing memoirs: (IPKat),
  • Does plagiarism require intent? –Bhavin Mehta
    PhD v Ohio University    : (IPBiz),
    (related coverage from IPBiz),
  • The future of the RIAA: (Ars
    Technica    ), (Copyfight),
    (related coverage from Copyfight),
  • Debate over whether there has been a reduction in
    patent litigation: (Against
    Monpoly    ), (Peter
    Zura’s 271 Patent Blog    ),
  • New York Times article sets the stage for
    upcoming patent reform debate renewal: (Patent
    Troll Tracker    ),
  • Senate Committee on the Judiciary urges Senate
    to pass the controversial Patent Reform Act of 2007: (IP
    Law360    ),
  • Expect patent reform legislation of some sort: (PLI)
  • Draft report on Senate Patent Reform Bill
    circulated: (Patent
    Docs    ), (more from Patent
    Docs    ), (Anticipate
    This!    ), (Peter
    Zura’s 271 Patent Blog    ), (Patent
    Prospector    ), (FileWrapper),
  • Patent reform discussion: (PLI),
    (IP
    Updates    ), (Patently-O),
    (e^(IP)),
  • Patent and copyright reform proposals lead US IP
    issues for 2008: (Intellectual
    Property Watch    ),
  • Post Twombly, form 16 takes on new
    significance: (IP
    Law360    ),
  • High-volume patent procurement may cost more: (IP
    Law360    ),
  • Technology firms including IBM, Nokia and Sony launch
    project to share green patents: (IP
    Law360    ), (Out-Law),
    (Patent
    Prospector    ),
  • Election of statutory damages may be bar to
    attorney’s fee award: K and N Engineering, Inc v Bulat: (Counterfeit
    Law Blog    ),
  • New rules for Information Disclosure Statements:
    (Mondaq), (PLI),
  • House proposes creation of an IP enforcement
    czar, seeks stronger trade mark and copyright enforcement: (Mondaq),
  • Senate seeks to prohibit grant of future patents
    to tax planning inventions: (Mondaq),
  • File fee request within deadline or no costs for
    prevailing party: JCW Investments, Inc., v. Novelty, Inc: (Mondaq),
  • Wikipedia: More than a footnote in trade mark
    suits: (IP
    Law360    ),
  • Top 10 TTAB decisions of 2007: (Part 1 – TTABlog),
    (Part 2 – TTABlog),
  • Patent values in the US on the decline: (IAM),
  • Does following the rules matter?: (Chicago
    IP Litigation Blog    ),
  • Is the Supreme Court reviving the exhaustion
    doctrine?: (PLI),
  • Injunction prohibiting use of unidentified trade
    secrets found to be too vague: Patriot Homes, Inc v Forest River
    Housing    : (IP
    Law Observer    ),
  • Does ‘up to’ include zero?: Ex parte Framtome
    ANP    : (Benefit
    of Hindsight    ),
  • 66 precedential decisions issued by the TTAB in
    2007: (TTABlog),
  • Claim substantiation research not privileged in Procter
    & Gamble Co v Ultreo Inc     false advertising case: (43(B)log),
  • Level of skill and long-felt need: Notes on a
    forgotten future (Essay on KSR decision): (The Fire of
    Genius    ),
  • Various comments on KSR v Teleflex: (The
    Fire of Genius    ),(CanadaPatentBlog),
    (Philip
    Brooks    ), (PLI),
  • Director of the Office of Enrollment &
    Discipline, announces that OED is going to investigate attorneys who file a
    large number of references where those references could be used to reject a
    substantial number of the claims presented: (PLI),
    (Patent
    Docs    ), (more at Patent
    Docs    ),
  • The death of Markush – how/whether to go
    forward: (PLI),
  • The devil’s advocate: What is a patent troll?: (PLI),
  • IFI releases top patent filers for 2007: (Peter
    Zura’s 271 Patent Blog    ),
  • The Chicago Tribune and David Donoghue on
    strategic patenting: (Chicago
    IP Litigation Blog    ),
  • The secrets within: What the PCT file holds: (PLI),
  • What claim interpretations are so broad that
    they are beyond reasonable?: (Benefit
    of Hindsight    ),
  • Copyright debate: should ISPs be roped into
    enforcement?: (Ars
    Technica    ),
  • The disconnection between IP and data retention
    policies: (Securing
    Innovation    ),
  • Revisiting foreign infringing activity in CNET
    v Etilize    : (Patently-O),
  • US District Court Judges express narrow view of
    patent claims: (IP
    Spotlight    ),
  • Patent prosecution highway pilot program extends
    to include Canada, Korea, Japan
    and Hong Kong: (Patently-O),
  • Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences
    decides on first ‘beyond reasonable’ case: Ex parte Jeff Alton Shaw: (Benefit
    of Hindsight    ), (related coverage from Benefit
    of Hindsight    ), (more from Benefit
    of Hindsight    ),
  • Groundwork is being laid for a new source of law
    to bolster copyright owners’ rights: human rights: (Patry
    Copyright Blog    ),
  • Early assessment of IP damages can prove
    beneficial: (Mondaq)
  • Contractually dividing patent rights: might no
    one have standing to bring suit?: (Mondaq),
  • How to effectively litigate a case of active
    inducement: (Philip
    Brooks    ),
  • USPTO duty of candor includes ‘clearly
    established’ trade mark rights?: (IP
    Updates    )

 

  • 1-800 Contacts – 1-800
    Contacts commences trade mark and copyright infringement action against
    LensWorld for keyword advertising and mimicking their FAQs: (Trademark
    Blog    )
  • Abbott Laboratories – Abbott
    appeals a multiplicity of issues with varying success in its patent
    dispute with Innogenetics : (Patently-O),
    (Patent
    Prospector    ),
  • ASP – District Court
    finds ASP’s LED flashlight patent unenforceable for inequitable conduct in
    ASP’s patent dispute with IQ Hong Kong: (Patently-O),
  • Baldwin Graphics – CAFC
    cautions co-interpretation of system and method elements in Baldwin’s
    patent action against Siebert, reiterates that ‘a’ means ‘one or more’
    unless clear intent to limit to one: (Patently-O),
    (IP
    Updates    ), (Patent
    Prospector    ), (Post-Grant),
  • BMG – Ninth Circuit finds
    that Leadersinger’s karaoke devices are ‘audiovisual works’ so not
    eligible for fair use exemption: (Joe
    Gratz    ),
  • Charter Communications – Months
    after winning patent suit against Hybrid Patents Inc over high-speed internet
    technology, Charter is now battling over how the jury verdict should
    appear on the books: (IP
    Law360    ),
  • Christian Louboutin –
    Louboutin granted trade mark protection for signature red shoe soles: (Counterfeit
    Chic    ),
  • CryoCor – CryoCor
    launches cardiac device patent suits in Deleware and Canada against CryoCath: (IP
    Law360    ),
  • Dell – Federal trial started
    in Dell’s case accusing Alcatel-Lucent’s configuration tool of infringing
    two of its patents for managing customer and product information online: (IP
    Law360    ),
  • Digital Technology
    Licensing LLC – Patent holding company DTL enters licensing agreement with
    Nokia for a patent covering signal encoding technology used in cell phones,
    while legal battles over the same patent continue with other cellular tech
    companies: (IP
    Law360    ),
  • Diomed Holding Inc – Federal
    Judge rejects bid by Diomed to hold AngioDynamics and Vascular Solutions
    in contempt for continuing to sell a product that could be used with
    another device that was found to infringe on Diomed’s patent: (IP
    Law360    ),
  • Dow Chemical Corp – Dow
    loses bid for summary judgment and now has to deal with repercussions for
    initiating an infringement suit against Mee Industries over a power augmentation
    method: (IP
    Law360    ),
  • eBay – Court of Appeals upholds
    finding that conjoined forms of the words ‘perfume’ and ‘bay’ are likely
    to be confused with ‘eBay’: (Mondaq),
  • eSpeed – eSpeed denied
    motion for judgment that Trading Technologies’ patent was invalid for
    indefiniteness based upon an ambiguous claim term: (Chicago
    IP Litigation Blog    ),
  • eSpeed – Court overturns
    jury verdict of willful infringement in Trading Technologies v eSpeed
    patent dispute: (Peter
    Zura’s 271 Patent Blog    ),
  • Ford – Ford sues car
    enthusiast club for copyright infringement over use of photographs of
    their own cars in a calendar: (IP
    Factor    ), (Trademark
    Blog    ),
  • GTFM – TTAB finds ‘FYBY’
    for silkscreening services confusingly similar to ‘FUBU’ mark for clothing
    in GTFM, Inc v Wilson:
    (TTABlog),
  • Google – Google denies patent
    infringement claim by Jarg Corporation and Northeastern University
    concerning Google’s search service: (IPBiz),
    (Ars
    Technica    ), (IP
    Law360    ), (Philip
    Brooks    ),
  • Hawaiian Airlines – Mesa
    Air Group ordered to pay $80m for misusing confidential information that
    it obtained when considering investing in Hawaiian Airlines: (Mondaq),
  • Hewlett-Packard – HP
    drops one patent claim in dispute with video conference system provider
    Tandberg Data Corp but continues dispute over magnetic tape data backup technology:
    (IP
    Law360    ),
  • IBM, Asians top list of US patent-winners in
    2007 according to IFI Patent Intelligence report: (IP Law360),
  • Illumina – Illumina to
    pay Affymetrix $90m to settle patent dispute over competing genetic data
    products: (SmartBrief),
  • Kinetic Concepts Inc. – Kinetic
    Concepts and Wake Forest University Health Sciences files patent
    infringement lawsuit against Innovative Therapies over vacuum bandage
    technology: (IPBiz),
  • McNeil Nutritionals LLC –
    Third Circuit decision clarifies how district courts are to analyze and weigh
    the Lapp factors in a trade dress infringement action involving
    store brands in McNeil and Heartland’s dispute over the Splenda yellow
    trade dress: (Mondaq),
  • OK! – OK! Magazine sues
    Heat magazine for copyright infringement concerning its use of quotes from
    OK!’s interview with a celebrity: (IPKat),
  • PrivaSys –PrivaSys
    asserts patent claiming secure contactless credit card cash transaction
    processes and wins hefty settlements from MasterCard, First Data, Visa, JP
    Morgan Chase  and Wells Fargo: (Patent
    Prospector    ),
  • PuriCore – PuriCore
    granted patent for ‘wound and ulcer treatment with super-oxidised water’:
    (Patent
    Docs    ),
  • Qualcomm Inc. – Qualcomm
    may risk revealing confidential information and hurting itself in pending
    patent litigation if it decides to file malpractice claims against its
    attorneys to recoup part of an $8.6 million sanction against the company
    in its lawsuit against Broadcom: (IP
    Law360    ),
  • Quanta v LG Electronics –
    Supreme Court hears oral argument in patent exhaustion case between Quanta
    and LG: (Post-Grant),
    (IP
    ThinkTank    ), (Patent
    Troll Tracker    ), (IP
    Law360    ), (Patent
    Prospector    ), (Patently-O),
    (Pe

 Category: Pursue Excellence

Legal Notices

Duncan Bucknell

%d bloggers like this: