Friday, July 25, 2014

Global Patent Filling Pattern in India

                                                           Written By
                                    Vennila Muthusamy & Kandli Sisodia

Patenting activity is an important yardstick for measuring innovation, research and technological development in a country. In recent years, India has witnessed rapid changes in its patenting landscape as a result of the growing economic activity and reforms (related to patents). We, investigated the patenting landscape in India, focusing on the patent applications published over Period of January 2014 to July 2014.This report identifies the foreign countries filling patent in India for this period.

According to the data collected about the patents filled, it shows the top 5 counties in the list of filing patents in India are U.S. (16%), Japan (8%), Europe (5%), Germany (4%) and France (2%). The below graphs show the number of Patents filled in India by the different countries.





This trend shows how global companies are now seeing India as a key market for IP protection. Definitely this shows the interest other counties are having in getting patent protection in India. India is a big market and if patent protection is granted it means a big gateway for a large number of consumers.

This filing trend clearly indicates that how all the countries across the globe see India as a big market and through this, India getting a platform for collaboration, partnership and licensing. Growth opportunities are rising.


Seeing the opportunities Indian companies and business owners looking for expansion and growth should evaluate the IP portfolio to identify opportunities.

Author: Vennila Muthusamy & Kandli Sisodia
Weblink: www.einfolge.com 

Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Sports & Innovative Patents

                                                     Written By
                                           Vennila Mutthusamy                                              


Football is one of the world’s favorite sports, has over 240 million players in 1.4 million teams in 300,000 clubs across the world. The sport has continually evolved and continues to do so. There are many innovations have been evolved in soccer sports in which from top companies to individual inventor have major contribution to it. In order to understand the technology and methods, design involved in it Patent and trademark could be useful tool.

           A review of the patents granted over the last 20 years reveals that there was an up-tick in the number of patents granted for sports-related technologies during the 1990s, with a spike of nearly 500 patents granted in 1998 alone, followed by a drop to an average of around 250 patents per year from 2000 to 2012. The patents granted for innovations related to football are enormous. Accordingly, the number of patents mentioning “soccer” in the patent specifications as recorded on  reached a figure of ~ 2,773 in between 2012-2014. Also, the number of patent specifications (including design patents) mentioning “soccer” in the title as recorded on Espacenet leap from 91 in 1990-99 to 251 in 2012-2014.

         There are various changes in the design of the football it had change from 12-panel layout to 6-panel design that’s custom fit and provide stable aerodynamics. So many things have changed in the game and the innovative part has been patented either in design or utility and also trademark have important role in this. If we take a look over the patents filed by Germany during the year 2013 to 2014 related to soccer or football is related to ~74. 

Below is the chart depicting the countries and their number of patent filing in the year 2013 to 2014



In this Hungary patent number HU1200264A2 is granted for Football Ball Equipped with a Gps Device in February 2014 likewise so many innovative things have filed and being granted

The trend of filing patents related to soccer or football is showing gradual increase compared to early period. Due to the development made in the game and technology have joined to make a remarkable note in filing patents and trademarks

Conclusion

So many interesting patents were filed related to football. There should be new development and advance technologies that should pave the way for improvement of Intellectual property

References

1.     http://winthropintelligence.com

Author: Vennila Muthusawmy


Thursday, July 3, 2014

IPO Drafting Guidelines

                                          In Technical Study with Binod Singh
                                               Written by Shanthi Bhojaraj


Abstract Section

1. Number of words used in the Abstract section must be equal to or less than 150 words including the Figure number.

2. The Abstract section can be paraphrased using the Broadest claim / Independent claim.

3. The Abstract section must always begin on a new page.

Objective Section

4. While describing the objective, first describe the Broadest inventive aspect.
Then describe the narrower inventive aspect(s).

Claims Section

5. Use terms consistently across the document and must be aligned with the terms used in the Statement of Claims section. For example, usage of the terms content or data or file must be used consistently in the document.

6. In Statement of Claims section, do not use the informal terms such as 'that is', 'such as' and 'for example'.

7. The Statement of Claims section can include the following claim-set:
- The Method claims
- The Computer Program Code or the Device claims
- The System claims

8. In the Independent claim keep the preamble as short as possible.

9. In the independent claim-set, after identifying the points-of-novelty, the elements of the points-of-novelty should include complete steps / procedure for implementing the points of the novelty.  Ideally, the final claim element in the procedure should mention about the objective of the invention or replicate the preamble.

10. Even if one of the claim elements in the independent claim is different from the scope of the invention, then the new claim-element along with other the claim elements are drafted as an additional independent claim-set.

11. Use broader terms in the claim language for better protection, without using the exact terminology as used in the disclosure of invention to avoid infringement / litigation case.

12. In the method claims, if the method provides additional functionality other than the independent claim elements ,the additional functional elements are listed in the dependent claim-set using the phrase “wherein the method further comprises of:”

13. In the method claims generally it is preferred to use the gerund form of the verb both in the independent claim and dependent claim-set.

14. In the claims language avoid using negative terms such as “without”, “not” and so on.

15. In case the invention implements a method in the hardware device, then the claim-set can include: The Method claims, The System claims, and The Device claims.
Detailed Description Section

16. While describing the flow-chart process, maintain consistency between the flow-chart components diagram and the description. used in the. While describing the flow-chart process maintain the flow of the flow-chart.

17. Terms used in all the sections must be consistent, including the terms used in the Claims section.

18. The term “Can” be used to show capabilities of the invention.

19. After explaining the flow-chart process, an example for the flow-chart process can be provided.

20. Do not mention about the alternatives available for the invention under discussion. As the alternatives reduce the weight age of the current inventive method.

21. While describing any activity (example, sudden illumination of a tracked object is handled by measuring the percentage change in the object size) do not start with the term “In an embodiment”.

22. While defining any activity (example gesture) or parameters and if there is scope for enhancing the activities or options, use the term “In an embodiment”. If there is no scope to change the activities or options avoid using the phrase “In an embodiment”.

23. If there is scope to broaden the description in the Objective and Introduction part of the detailed description section, then the description can be expanded instead of providing specific details.

24. In the Detailed description section, while describing figures always use the component numbers while referring to the figure components. In the flow diagram, use the flow diagram numbers (should be specified within brackets) immediately after an activity or a verb.

25. In the Detailed description section, instead of using the term “every”, use the term “each”.

26. In the Detailed description section, instead of using the term “has / have” use the term “is / are”.

27. If there is an alternate way of implementing a procedure / process then the alternate process or procedure must be described after the main procedure / process as another embodiment.

28. All the advantages of the invention need to be mentioned under the initial description para of the invention under the Detailed Description section.

29. All the claims listed in the disclosure of invention must be enabled in the Description section and/or claimed in the CLAIMS section.

30. In the Sequence diagram description, provide description for the complete sequence of operation (complete the loop of operation) and provide description for the next sequence of operation.

31. Any alternative method followed to achieve the objective can be described after describing the main aspect of the invention.

Field of Invention

32. In the Field of invention, first mention about generic point of invention (keep it broad) and then narrow it down by using the term “More specifically”.

Background Section

33. In the Background section, mention about the existing inventive aspects and its drawbacks without keeping the explanation too broad. For example, if the invention is of image compression then do not focus much on image processing in the background section.

34. In the Background section, include Description about the existing methods as described in the Prior-art document. If the Description of the prior-art does not contain the same subject matter as that used in the current invention do not include the prior-art content in the Background section. Mention the generic drawbacks of the existing method.

Summary Section

35. Summary section is drafted by paraphrasing the claims of the specification.

36. Summary section must also include paraphrasing of the Computer Program Product (CPP) content of the Claims section.

Brief Description Section

37. A Brief description should be phrased to give an overview of a figure.


Author: Shanthi Bhojaraj