Patent News Round-up(II)

Hi Folks!

Here’s this week’s IP news weekly Round-up. 

Will the World be Better Off with an India-Style Pharma Patent Policy?

Whenever high drug prices are discussed in the media, it seems like many Americans have resigned themselves to the seeming certainty that they would have to pay through the nose for branded pharmaceutical products. After all, according to conventional wisdom, somebody has to pay for all the research and development costs that go into the latest blockbuster pharmaceutical discoveries…Read more

Changes Forced on Qualcomm Seen Benefitting Big Phone Makers

After a 15-month investigation, on February 10 China’s antitrust authorities announced they are fining Qualcomm Inc., the world’s largest chip maker 6.09 billion yuan – the biggest fine handed out since a new anti-monopoly law took effect on August 1, 2008.

The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said Qualcomm abused its dominant market position and charged Chinese smartphone makers unfair patent fees. The country’s top economic planner also required the company to fix its patent-licensing practices…Read more

Australian High Court to consider the patentability of isolated genes

Friday the 13th proved lucky for those opposed to gene patents in Australia with the High Court (equivalent to the US Supreme Court) granting a special leave application to appeal the decision of the Full Court of the Federal Court, which unanimously confirmed the patentability of isolated genes in Australia. Commentary in relation to the Full Court decision can be found here.

Today’s decision means that the High Court will provide a definitive judgment in relation to the patentability of isolated genes in Australia, which the lower courts have unanimously found to be patentable…Read more

Australian High Aside from patents, there’s a big reason Xiaomi isn’t selling its phone in the US yet

Chinese mobile tech darling Xiaomi held a press event in Silicon Valley yesterday to introduce itself to the US. And while some thought the company might announce that its popular phones are finally coming to America, that is not happening this year.

Xiaomi president Bin Lin and VP Hugo Barra maintained at the event that the decision not to launch phones in the US has to do with things like America’s already-high smartphone penetration rate, but an obvious reason – and one raised by many journalists at the event, apparently – is patents. Xiaomi doesn’t have many of its own, and especially in the US market, that could open it up to tons of additional expenses…Read more

3-D laser printing is becoming a catalyst for industrial development — and the Asia-Pacific region is taking full advantage.

The world of laser-based 3-D printing is one of endless possibilities, so much so that trying to predict its advances seems pointless. Since its emergence in the 1980s, laser-based additive manufacturing has evolved into many forms, including stereolithography, selective laser sintering, direct metal laser sintering, laser solid forming and selective laser melting. During the technology’s humble beginnings, scientists used it to produce small handheld prototypes for an accurate representation of a part’s construction…Read more

Suven gets patent for neurodegenerative drug in 4 countries

Pharmaceutical firm Suven Life Sciences has been granted one patent each by Australia, Canada, Japan and New Zealand for its drug used in treatment of neurodegenerative diseases.

“Secured patents in Australia, Canada, Japan and New Zealand to one of their New Chemical Entity (NCE) for CNS therapy through a new mechanism of action ? H3 Inverse agonist,” the company said in a BSE filing…Read more

Samsung to pay $15.7 million for patent infringements

Samsung has been dragged to the court for patent issues yet again. The South Korean tech giant has been ordered to pay a hefty sum of $15.7 million(approx. Rs.97.65 Crore) for infringing the patents of a company Rembrandt Wireless Technologies LP by the Harrison County federal jury…Read more

Huge Qualcomm Fine Reflects Shifts in Power in Chinese Regime

One of the world’s largest mobile phone chip makers, U.S.-based Qualcomm Inc., has been issued a fine of 6.088 billion yuan ($973 million) by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the highest fine ever issued to a company in China…Read more

Canada-Europe Open New Patent Prosecution Highway Pilot Program

The Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) has entered into a new Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) pilot agreement with the European Patent Office (EPO). The PPH has a three year mandate; it began on January 6, 2015, and will operate until January 5, 2018. CIPO has previously entered into PPH agreements with other patent offices around the world and is a part of the Global Patent Prosecution Highway…Read more

ZTE Welcomes Withdrawal of 3 Vringo Patent Claims in the UK

ZTE Corporation welcomes the withdrawal of three patent claims by Vringo Infrastructure Inc. against ZTE (UK) Ltd. The discontinuation of Vringo’s claims concerning European Patents 1,808,029, 1,186,119 and 1,221,212 before the High Court of Justice Chancery Division in London followed ZTE’s efforts to demonstrate that the patents asserted against it are not infringed…Read more

Patrys gets new EU patent for PAT-SM6

Patrys (ASX:PAB) has been granted a third European patent for anticancer candidate PAT-SM6, securing protection through to 2027. The company has secured a patent from the European Patent Office covering a “novel glycosylated target in neoplastic cells”. The patent protects the use of PAT-SM6 in various blood and solid cancers including myeloma, melanoma, lung, breast, pancreatic, kidney, colon, cervical and brain…Read more