7th June , 2011

IP Australia launches new online tool

IP Australian has launched a new online tool to provide free access to a wide range of patent documents for innovators. IP Australia’s AusPat search engine is now improved with this tool called eDossier, making it easier for inventers to protect their inventions. AusPat is a database of 1.6 million patent applications records dating back to the first patent issued under Commonwealth legislation, and contains records from 1904.

This is for the first time that eDossier is offering free online access to patent information in Australia. eDossier provides electronic access to documents relating to the prosecution of patent applications.

Earlier innovators had to apply for access to the patent document including paying a fee and it took seven days before a paper copy of the information was received.

Chinese publishing house sues Apple for copyright infringement

In a lawsuit filed in a Beijing court, a Chinese publishing company, Encyclopedia of China Publishing House has alleged copyright infringement by Apple Co. and one of its Chinese subsidiaries.

The publishing company claims that Apple violated the publisher's "right to network dissemination of information" by selling selling iPhone and iPad apps equipped with significant and unlicensed portions of its Encyclopedia of China. The publishing company has sought an injunction against sale of the software and 535,200 yuan in compensation for financial losses caused by the alleged infringement.

Earlier this year, Beijing LeTV Mobile Media & Technology Co. had sued the U.S. tech giant for infringing its right to exclusive network dissemination of the film "Painted Skin" and other films by providing unlicensed, paid downloads.

Apple's App Store has been facing many a copyright infringement cases recently, though it is widely considered the most mature platform for mobile applications, with about 370,000 apps available for download.

Suven Life Sciences awarded 4 patents for CNS molecules

Suven Life sciences has been awarded patents for molecules which could be used in the treatment of various central nervous system (CNS) disorders like Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and Schizophrenia. The pharma company obtained four different product patents from different countries, one from New Zealand, one from Australia, one from Korea and one from Europe. These patents are valid till year 2025.

With this new approval the company now has eight patents from Europe, ten from New Zealand, nine from Australia and three from Korea for their new chemical entities (NCEs).

The company intends to license out these NCEs at various phases of its research.
Products out of these inventions may be out-licensed at various phases of clinical research like at phase I or phase II.

Google sued by EBay and PayPal over trade secrets

Two executives of Google Inc., Osama Bedier and Stephanie Tilenius and the search giant have been sued by EBay and its online payment unit, PayPal Inc, for stealing their trade secrets related to mobile payment systems.

Both of these executives were formerly employed with PayPal and were responsible for the launch of Google's own mobile payment system in partnership with MasterCard, Citigroup and phone company Sprint.

The suit filed at Superior Court of the State of California, county of Santa Clara, mentions that Bedier, who joined Google this January, had worked for nine years at PayPal and served as vice president of platform, mobile and new ventures. Stephanie Tilenius served eBay from 2001 to 2009 as a consultant to the company and joined Google in February 2010 as vice president of e-commerce.

Bedier is accused of having "misappropriated PayPal trade secrets by disclosing them to Google. The suit accused Tilenius of recruiting Bedier, thus breaking a contractual agreement with eBay. PayPal and Google had been intending to make a commercial deal where PayPal would serve as a payment option for mobile application purchases on Google's Android phones when Bedier was still employed with PayPal. It is claimed that Bedier transferred the latest versions of documents outlining PayPal's mobile payment strategies to Google.

Philip Morris acquires Nicotine inhaler patent

Philip Morris International Inc., the world’s largest nongovernmental cigarette seller has bought the rights to a technology that allows users to inhale nicotine without smoking.  The maker of Marlboro, Benson & Hedges and Virginia Slims cigarettes took a license to a patent on a nicotine-delivery system intended to reduce the harm of smoking.

The patent for an aerosol nicotine-delivery system was developed by a team led by Jed Rose, director of the Center for Nicotine and Smoking Cessation Research at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina.

Prof. Rose had led the preliminary studies that lead to the use of commercial nicotine patches as a smoking cessation treatment. He mentions that death and disease associated with smoking can be reduced by allowing smokers to inhale nicotine without other toxic substances by avoiding the burning process. Philip Morris International with offices in New York and Lausanne, Switzerland, would develop a product which can substitute the conventional cigarettes, using this technology.

The World Health Organization estimates that nearly 6 million people die from tobacco use each year, from both direct use and secondhand smoke.

Ahmedabad man arrested for copyright violation

Mr. Sunil Vala, a resident of Ambawadi, Ahemadabad was arrested for pilfering the design catalogue of a furniture brand and using it for commercial purpose.

The owner of a city-based company, HOF Furniture Systems Pvt Ltd, Mr. Krunal Patel alleged that Sunil Vala, the proprietor of Venus Furnitures, had copied his patented furniture designs and exhibited them on his website.

The arrested person has told the investigators that his web designer had copied the catalogue which was available online and downloaded it on the website of the furniture manufacturers. The web designer has been named co-accused in the case and the computer systems used for the act have been seized for further investigation of this copyright infringement, which is considered to be the first in the largest city of Gujarat.