Exclusive: João Negrão in pole position after EUIPO leadership vote
João Negrão topped the vote at the EUIPO management board meeting held to nominate the executive director in Alicante on Tuesday, June 6.
Negrão received 15 votes, compared to 10 for Etienne Sanz de Acedo and five for Andrea Di Carlo.
The management board will now send a list of the three candidates, along with the number of votes each got, to the Council of the EU for a final decision.
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MIP Innovation Summit: UPC ready to take off despite initial caution
Patent lawyers were full of optimism for the new Unified Patent Court at Managing IP’s Intellectual Property & Innovation Summit in London on Wednesday, June 7 – so why has the court been relatively quiet so far?
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Apple to pay Optis $5m a year for SEPs
Mr Justice Marcus Smith has determined that Apple must pay $5 million a year for an Optis standard essential patent portfolio in a 300-page decision at the England and Wales High Court, it emerged on Wednesday, June 7.
Click here to read the full story.
Federal Circuit refuses to hand Judge Newman fresh cases
The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has refused Judge Pauline Newman’s request to be assigned new cases, it emerged on Monday, June 5.
The court’s judicial council issued an order saying that Newman, who is 95, shouldn’t be assigned new cases at this time.
It is the latest development in the court’s investigation, which first emerged in April.
Click here to read the full story.
Other articles published by Managing IP this week include:
Counsel condemn USPTO’s proposed TM fee hikes
Picking new counsel: in-house list red, and green, flags
Weekly take: USPTO deserves kudos for patent bar expansion
UPC uncertainty drives US opt-outs and hesitancy
Elsewhere in IP
First blood
Amgen owns the first patent to be challenged for invalidity at the Unified Patent Court (UPC), according to social media reports.
The patent covers an antibody used for reducing cholesterol levels. French drugmaker Sanofi filed the challenge at the Munich seat of the UPC’s central division.
‘Trump too small’
The US Supreme Court will decide whether a trademark attorney should have been granted the trademark ‘Trump too Small’, it confirmed on Monday, June 5.
Officials at the USPTO rejected attorney Steve Elster’s application, but the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit overturned that finding on first amendment grounds.
The phrase originates from a memorable exchange between former US President Donald Trump and Senator Marco Rubio in a 2016 Republican primary debate.
AI warning
US-based publishers’ association Digital Content Next, whose members include the New York Times, the Washington Post, and Disney, warned that artificial intelligence tools could violate copyright law on Monday, June 5.
In a paper called ‘Principles for Development and Governance of Generative AI’ DCN said most use of publishers’ original content by AI systems “would likely be found to go far beyond the scope of fair use”.
5G pool
Microsoft has signed up as a licensee to Sisvel’s 5G multimode patent pool, it was announced on Wednesday, June 7.
The Luxembourg-based pool operator announced the creation of the 5G pool in December last year. At the time, 14 licensors had signed up including Siemens, Mitsubishi, and Telefónica.
Nokia’s SEP warning
‘The European Commission’s plan to stamp out excessive royalty demands for standard essential patents and put the EUIPO in charge of setting fair terms has drawn criticism from Adrian Howes, head of IP and standards, IP regulatory affairs at Nokia.
Speaking on a panel at MIP’s IP & Innovation Summit on Thursday, June 8, Howes argued the proposal makes Europe a less attractive place to do standardisation and to obtain patents.
“The commission has bitten off far more than it can chew,” Howes said.
Vivo injunction
Vivo has left the German market after an earlier patent injunction granted in favour of Nokia, it was confirmed this week.
The Chinese smartphone maker had indicated it would be prepared to exit Germany if Nokia enforced the injunction it obtained from a court in Mannheim in April.
COVID vaccines
US lawmakers expressed their reservations about a proposal to extend a TRIPS patent waiver for COVID vaccines to include diagnostic and preventative tools during an online hearing on Tuesday, June 6.
The World Trade Organization is currently deliberating on the waiver expansion proposal.
Panellists from the House of Representatives’ Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet said the waiver had helped China and hampered US innovation.
That's it for today, see you again next week.
