This week on MIP: Oppo faces SEP setback in India, VW Group joins Avanci pool

February 23 2024

We provide a rundown of Managing IP’s news and analysis coverage from the week, and review what’s been happening elsewhere in IP

Delhi court orders Oppo to pay interim security in InterDigital SEP feud

Oppo must deposit pending royalties as interim security while its standard-essential patent dispute with InterDigital plays out in India, the Delhi High Court ruled on Wednesday, February 21.

The court directed Oppo to pay a sum amounting to approximately 23% of the counteroffer it made to InterDigital for licensing its SEPs. The percentage corresponds to Oppo’s share of its global handset sales in India.

To read the full article click here

Volkswagen Group becomes latest Avanci 5G member

Volkswagen Group has become the latest car manufacturer to join Avanci’s 5G patent licensing programme, it was announced on Tuesday, February 20.

All car, bus, and truck manufacturing brands in the VW Group are now licensees in the 5G programme.

Brands in the group, which include Volkswagen, Audi, Bentley, Lamborghini, Porsche, Seat, and Škoda, are also licensed to the 4G, 3G, and 2G standard-essential patents belonging to more than 60 patent owners in the programme.

To read the full article click here.

Elsewhere in IP

Trusted flaggers

The European Brands Association (AIM) has reiterated its call for intellectual property owners to be recognised as ‘trusted flaggers’ following rollout of the EU’s Digital Services Act.

The DSA, which went live on Saturday, February 17, gives individuals and organisations known as ‘trusted flaggers’ the power to identify illegal items, including counterfeits, to online platforms who will then take action to remove them.

The flaggers are appointed by designated ‘coordinators’ in EU member states. According to an AIM statement on Monday, February 19, national and European regulators need to “keep our markets safe” by ensuring that rights owners are recognised as flaggers.

AI TM blow

The USPTO has denied OpenAI’s request to register the term ‘GPT’ as a trademark. In its decision, the office said 'GPT', which stands for Generative Pre-trained Transformer, is too general a term and can prevent competitors from correctly describing their products as a GPT. Open AI was represented by law firm Pirkey Barber.

AI office

Sticking with AI, a European AI Office was formally established on Tuesday, February 20. The office sits within the European Commission and will, according to the commission, act as the centre of AI expertise and form the foundation for a single European AI governance system.

Samsung’s Texas win

A jury at the District Court for the Western District of Texas found that Samsung did not infringe two patents owned by technology development company Demaray on Friday, February 16.

Demaray had asked the court for more than $4 billion in damages. Kirkland & Ellis and Desmarais advised Samsung.

IP centre

IP analytics company Clarivate launched the Clarivate Center for IP and Innovation Research on Tuesday, February 20. The centre is a new expert unit that will help guide corporations and research organisations to create their own IP.

Logo wars

A three-day hearing at the England and Wales Court of Appeal between Lidl and Tesco, two of the UK’s major supermarkets, kicked off on Monday, February 19.

Lidl secured a partial victory at the England and Wales High Court last year after the court ruled Tesco’s logo for its ‘Clubcard’ discount scheme had taken unfair advantage of Lidl’s reputation and damaged the distinctive character of the Lidl logo. Both logos feature a yellow circle on a blue square. Lidl’s has a thin red border around it.

Sweet re-brand

One of the oldest logos in the world, an image of a dead lion being swarmed by bees, is to be partially scrapped, it was revealed on Tuesday, February 20.

The logo, used by UK company Lyle’s on its golden syrup products, holds the Guinness World Record for the oldest unchanged brand packaging. It has remained nearly identical since 1888.

A new image of a lion's head with a single bee will feature on most products, including plastic syrup and dessert bottles. However, the original logo will remain on the traditional metal syrup tin.

That's it for today, see you again next week.