14th May , 2010

Nokia launches patent suit over iPad

The world’s biggest mobile phone maker, Nokia has filed another lawsuit against Apple, alleging that both the iPhone and iPad 3G infringe on five of its patents.

The patents implicated in the suit, filed in the Federal District Court in the Western District of Wisconsin, relate to enhanced speech and data transmission. The technology uses placing data in applications and new antenna configurations to improve performance and save space within the hardware. Nokia with more than 11,000 patent families has one of the industry’s strongest patent portfolios and has invested about 40 billion euros in R&D in the last two decades.

This is the fourth time that Nokia has lodged a complaint against Apple. The Finnish phone maker had first sued Apple last October, accusing it of infringing on patented wireless standards related to GSM and wireless LAN. Again in December, it filed a complaint with the U.S. ITC, claiming that Apple has been infringing on patents with the iPhone, its line of iPads, and MacBooks. In January this year, a third lawsuit alleged that Apple infringed on several “implementation patents.”

Now Nokia seeks a 1 percent to 2 percent royalty on every iPhone sold. That would amount to about $6 to $12 per handset in compensation for IP related go GSM, 3G and Wi-Fi. Apple has sold 1m iPad units in US since its introduction in March. The device would go on sale outside the US at the end of the month in nine other countries.

First Patent consent under Green Technology Pilot Program to Skyline Solar

Skyline Solar, a manufacturer of High Gain Solar (HGS) arrays has been issued a patent by the US Patent and Trademark Office, covering fundamental aspects of the company’s HGS architecture. The patent issuance makes Skyline Solar one of the first companies to receive patent approval under the USPTO's Green Technology Pilot Program.

The accelerated examination by the USPTO program emphasizes the US government’s commitment to maintain leadership in green technology innovation. Usually, green technology companies could anticipate waiting for years before being issued a patent.

The approved patent application is titled "Dual Trough Concentrating Solar Photovoltaic Module". In 2008, Skyline Solar was selected by the US Department of Energy's Solar Energy Technologies Program (SETP) for a PV Incubator sub-contract for developing a technology that could make solar energy cost-competitive with conventional forms of electricity.

Microsoft patents portable applications

Microsoft has been granted a patent for running applications or an executable file on flash devices by the US patent office.
The patent relates to portable applications that can be performed from a portable memory device (such as a USB flash drive) without altering the configuration of the computer.  
The patent application was originally filed on December 15, 2004 elaborates how users can copy programs to a DVD and use them while on the move.

The patent document mentions that Microsoft is not claiming rights to the act of copying data onto a USB device.

A USB device is used to transfer data from a computer to the USB device, and then from the USB device into another computer and access the data on the USB device. If the computer does not have the proper program, then the data is not accessible to the user in a useful form. Microsoft says it invented a device which includes flash as a memory technology, and can run an application on an attached computer exclusively from the flash drive.

USFDA approves Sun Pharma’s generic Namenda(R) tabletst

The USFDA has granted an approval to a subsidiary of Mumbai-based Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.for its Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) to market a generic version of Forest Laboratories, Inc.'s Namenda 5 mg and 10 mg tablets.

Sun was amongst the first ANDA applicants to submit a substantially complete ANDA with a paragraph IV certification to the related patent. Sun's subsidiary is now eligible for 180 days generic exclusivity. These generic Memantine tablets are equivalent to Forest Laboratories, Inc's Namenda(R) tablets. Memantine tablets are used for the treatment of moderate to severe Alzheimer's Disease.

Namenda (R) is a registered trademark of Forest Laboratories, Inc.

Kyoto Univ inks patent license agreement with U.S. firm on iPS cells

Kyoto University has signed a license agreement with Cellular Dynamics International Inc of the United States. This agreement will give Cellular Dynamics International Inc access to its patent on induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPS cells.

The license has already been provided to several bio-firms in Japan, and this is the first foreign firm to gain access to the Kyoto University’s patent. The contract was signed by CDI and iPS Academia Japan Inc, which manages the patents.
  
A Kyoto University team led by Professor Shinya Yamanaka had developed the iPS cells, which can grow into any type of body tissue. The university was granted the patent in September 2008.

Shrink Nanotechnologies, Inc. has purchased the PowerSkin trademarks from the bankruptcy estate associated with the Millennium Cell. Shrink Nanotechnologies, Inc. is a nanotechnology company developing products and having licensing prospects in the solar energy production, medical diagnostics and sensors and biotechnology research and development tools businesses.

Awaiting additional clearances from the US Patent & Trademark Office, Shrink would market its Quantum Dot Solar Concentrator technologies under the name PowerSkin.

This technology improves the existing silicon-based photovoltaic (PV) systems and their ability to absorb sunlight and convert it to electricity.

The core solar concentrator technology promises to produces power even from everyday building products like windows- as an example an electric vehicle that could be re-charged from a solar window that is absorbing the sun's rays.

Photocure wins patent case against the USPTO

The Federal Circuit Court of Appeals (CAFC) in the US has upheld a lower court's decision stating that the USPTO’s interpretation of the law was not reasonable, when refusing Photocure's request for patent term extension.

In 2004 Photocure, a Norwegian pharmaceutical company had applied to the USPTO for patent term extension of its US patent covering the FDA-approved drug Metvixia® and the USPTO refused the application. Photocure then sought legal aid and appealed to the US Eastern Court of Virginia and the Court granted summary judgment in Photocure's favour.

The USPTO appealed the Court's decision and the case was decided by the CAFC, which has asked the USPTO to take suitable steps on granting the requested patent term extension.

Glenmark and Merck settle patent row on cholesterol drug

Glenmark Pharmaceuticals and Merck & Co. have settled a patent dispute on the cholesterol drug Zetia, one of its best-selling products of Merck & Co.

Glenmark can now start selling its generic version of Zetia on Dec. 12, 2016, under the terms of the settlement. The patent would have expired on Apr. 25, 2017.

Annual U.S. sales of Zetia are about USD 1.4 billion.

Zetia, or ezetimibe, was launched in the US in 2002. Merck`s biggest seller, Zetia is one of the two components of a newer cholesterol drug, Vytorin. The other component of Vytorin is Zocor, which is already available as a generic.