Breaking: Huawei and Ericsson strike 5G cross-licence
Huawei and Ericsson have agreed a long-term patent cross-licensing deal, the companies announced today, August 25.
The licence, finalised earlier this month, covers patents essential to a wide range of standards including 3GPP, ITU, IEEE, and IETF for 3G, 4G, and 5G cellular technologies.
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Exclusive: Ex-Rouse disputes head to build IP practice at new firm
Rouse’s former global dispute resolution head, who quit the firm to run his own practice last year, is to join Tanner De Witt in Hong Kong SAR, Managing IP revealed.
Douglas Clark will formally start on September 1 and will be tasked with building the independent law firm’s intellectual property and international arbitration practices.
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G20 urges ‘voluntary’ tech transfer amid IP row at WHO
G20 health ministers have hailed the importance of tech transfer and knowledge sharing to prevent future pandemics, but only on “voluntary and mutually agreed terms”.
An outcome statement, published after a two-day meeting of health ministers in Gujarat on Saturday, August 18, highlighted the need to improve access to vaccines, diagnostics, and therapies in developing countries.
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Alexion and Samsung Bioepis settle German biosimilar lawsuit
Samsung Bioepis will continue to sell its biosimilar of a rare blood disorder drug in Germany after settling an orphan drug exclusivity lawsuit with Alexion.
Alexion, owned by AstraZeneca, sued Samsung Bioepis at the Munich Regional Court over the launch of a biosimilar of Soliris (eculizumab).
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No copyright for AI-generated art, US judge rules
Artificial intelligence-generated works are not eligible for copyright protection, a US federal court ruled on Friday, August 18.
Computer scientist Stephen Thaler was appealing against the US Copyright Office’s refusal to register an image created by one of his inventions, an AI tool called the Creativity Machine.
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Other articles published by Managing IP this week include:
Weekly take: What happened to the metaverse?
Why one letter could help Moderna avoid TM rejection
How firms can help medical device in-house with patent struggles
Carmakers have ‘no choice’ but to pay Avanci 5G rates: sources
Australian IP owners expected to ‘heavily resist’ Google’s AI proposal
India Google Ads ruling could fuel actions against intermediaries
How US litigators can minimise patent damages
Elsewhere in IP
Off-court drama
The New York Knicks has sued National Basketball Association rival the Toronto Raptors for the misappropriation of its trade secrets, including scouting reports.
Ikechukwu “Ike” Azotam, a former basketball player, worked for the Knicks from 2020 until this summer when he joined the Raptors.
Azotam allegedly sent thousands of confidential video files to the Raptors, a complaint filed at the US District Court for the Southern District of New York alleged.
Broadcast news
TV receiver maker Atlanta DTH (ADTH) has joined Avanci Broadcast as a licensee, it was confirmed on Wednesday, August 23.
Patent pool operator Avanci launched the pool in March this year to license patents essential to the Advanced Television Systems Committee 3.0 standard.
Avanci Broadcast currently includes 11 licensors, including LG, Sharp, Panasonic, and Samsung. ADTH is the pool’s sixth licensee.
Key UPC hearings
The Unified Patent Court has scheduled two preliminary injunction hearings between 10x Genomics and Nanostring for September.
The hearings will be the among first the UPC has heard on the merits of a case since the court opened on June 1.
The first hearing will take place on September 5, potentially spilling over until the next day, while the second will follow on September 19.
10x is seeking an injunction to prevent alleged patent infringement by Nanosting in a dispute over diagnostic devices.
The Munich local division will hear the cases.
Series trademarks
The UKIPO launched a consultation on digital services and the potential abolition of series trademarks on Tuesday, August 22.
Proposed changes would also allow the public to view documents relating to trademark and design applications online.
The UKIPO is also seeking views on how to enable more mediation as part of its tribunal service.
The consultation will close on October 31.
Google’s PTAB plea
Google general counsel Halimah DeLaine Prado told the USPTO that proposed changes to the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) would allow artificial intelligence patents to “block and bottleneck innovation for years,” Reuters revealed yesterday, August 24.
The USPTO said in April that it was considering changes to the PTAB's rules of practice that would make it harder to challenge patents via inter partes review.
That's it for today, see you again next week.
