IPQC founder seeks political backing after EPO no-show
Shoddy patents won’t impress judges and could cost rights owners their exclusivity, a meeting of in-house counsel heard in Munich on Monday, November 6.
Leading European patent filers met again this week to discuss what they see as declining patent quality at the EPO. The office’s management declined to attend the meeting.
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Exclusive: InterDigital launches first China office with Dolby hire
InterDigital has opened its first office in China with the aim of exploring new patent licensing opportunities in the telecom and video codec technology domains.
The US technology company has also hired Jason Wu, former senior intellectual property counsel at Dolby Laboratories, as the Beijing-based office’s vice president and general manager.
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Hyundai and Kia join Avanci 5G programme
Kia Corporation and its parent company Hyundai Motor Company are the latest licensees to join the Avanci 5G Vehicle programme, Avanci announced on Tuesday, November 7.
The automakers join 5G licensees BMW Group and Mercedes-Benz Group. BMW signed a licence in September after Mercedes-Benz became the 5G platform’s first licensee in August. The BMW deal includes cars sold under the BMW, Mini, and Rolls-Royce brands.
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Other articles published by Managing IP this week include:
Lawyers: thorough pleadings key to getting AI claims up and running
Weekly take: US law firm salary pressure may whittle down London profits
Five minutes with … David Bloom, Safeguard IP
The IP Lounge: India’s open legal market, UPC latest
Elsewhere in IP
Tim Powell sets sail
Powell Gilbert founder Tim Powell is currently on a year-long sabbatical during which he'll sail across the Atlantic, Managing IP has confirmed.
"The firm remains in close contact with him, and he will return to Powell Gilbert in the summer next year," a spokesperson for Powell Gilbert said on Thursday, November 9.
Barrister move
London-based intellectual property barrister Edward Cronan has left Hogarth Chambers for 11 South Square, he announced on LinkedIn on Tuesday, November 7.
“I realised recently that I have worked on more trials with the barristers at 11 South Square than any other chambers,” Cronan wrote.
Mark of God
Relatives of the late footballer Diego Maradona won a trademark battle against his ex-lawyer’s company at the EU General Court on Tuesday, November 7.
Maradona secured an EU trademark (EUTM) for his name covering clothing, footwear, hospitality, and IT services in 2008.
After he died in 2020, Argentina-based Sattvica requested that the EUTM be transferred to its control. The EUIPO complied but the late World Cup winner’s family objected.
In March 2022, the EUIPO found that Sattvica had not submitted documents duly establishing the transfer of the EUTM. Sattvica then asked the General Court to annul the EUIPO’s decision, but the court refused this week.
Patent Center
The USPTO has postponed its full transition to Patent Center, which is used for filing and managing patent applications.
The office said on Tuesday, November 7, that it needed extra time to incorporate stakeholder feedback into the design of the new system. Originally the office had planned a transition date of November 8.
The tool, which the USPTO introduced six years ago, will replace legacy systems EFS-Web and Private PAIR on November 15.
IoT pool
Sisvel has recruited a string of telecoms operators as licensors for its cellular internet of things patent pool, the Luxembourg-based firm announced yesterday, November 9.
China Mobile, Deutsche Telekom, KPN, and Verizon join fellow telecoms providers KDDI, NTT DoCoMo, Orange, and Telefónica as licensors.
Sven Torringer, cellular IoT programme manager at Sisvel, said: “It is important that the programme has patents owned by different stakeholders in the ecosystem, so securing the participation of eight major telecoms companies committed to a thriving industry and the supercharging of technology adoption is something we are very proud of.”
Alexa patents
A Delaware federal jury ordered Amazon to pay $46.7 million in damages for patent infringement by its voice recognition tool Alexa yesterday, November 9.
The jury found Alexa infringed patents owned by VB Assets.
That's it for today, see you again next week.
