21st November, 2009

Bhagalpur handloom weavers apply for GI

The handloom weavers of Bhagalpur, Bihar have applied for Geographical Indication (GI) at the Geographical Indication Registry, Chennai, for silk fabrics and sarees manufactured in the Bhagalpur region of Bihar.

An application has been submitted to the registry, for securing a GI tag for the silk fabrics and sarees, by the Bhagalpur Regional Handloom Weavers’ Cooperative Union and six other organizations.

A GI registration would legally restrain the sellers who sell fake silk fabrics and sarees as Bhagalpur-made-products and would help in the economic development of the regional weavers of this beautiful silk fabric.

Trademark filed by South Carolina first lady

Ms. Jenny Sanford, the first lady of South Carolina has filed a trademark for her name with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. This comes in as her move some days after her husband Gov. Mark Sanford admitted an extra-marital affair.

The trademark application was filed on July 2, categorizes Ms. Sanford's name as "Goods and Services" used in "product merchandising to be sold at on-line retail store featuring clothing, mugs and other household items; stickers, decals, notepads."

The USPTO is yet to make a decision on Ms. Sanford's trademark application and has requested for additional information from her.

Another patent for Ryogen

Ryogen, a genomic start-up company in new York, has been awarded an U.S. patent titled “Isolated Genomic Polynucleotide Fragments from Chromosome 7”.

The patent claims isolated genomic polynucleotide fragments that encode human adipocyte enhancer binding protein 1 (AEBP1), complementary polynucleotides, vectors and host cells containing these fragments and a method for obtaining AEBP1. The protein programmed by the patented sequences will have a crucial function in diabetes and metabolic syndrome, obesity, inflammation, immune processes, osteopenia and atherogenesis, according to Dr. James W. Ryan, who is the inventor and Ryogen’s Chief Scientist.

This patent is being considered for licensing to make it available to researchers to further develop novel diagnostic and treatment methods.

Glenmark and Medicis make a Licensing Deal

India's Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Ltd. has entered into an exclusive licensing agreement with U.S.-based Medicis Pharmaceutical Corp. to develop and market an innovative specialty pharmaceutical product for the treatment of acne, in North America.

According to the licensing agreement, Glenmark will receive a $5 million one-time payment from Medicis. Additional payments and royalties would follow upon achieving specific targets and successive commercialization. Glenmark usually licenses out experimental drugs after developing them to multinational companies, in return for some revenue.

Earlier patent disputes between Medicis and the Glenmark Generics Ltd. unit on its generic versions of Medicis' Vanos cream and Loprox gel have been settled.

FIFA wins cyber squatting case

Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the international governing body of football, has won a case of cybersquatting at the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) against Chris Carter, a US citizen who had registered the term ‘Fifa World Cup’ in an Internet domain.

FIFA had filed a complaint before the WIPO in September this year, claiming that the domain ‘fifaworldcup2010.com’ registered by Carter was similar to its registered trade marks and that the website was registered to take unmerited advantage of the reputed FIFA trademark. WIPO has asked Carter to transfer the disputed Internet site to FIFA.

FIFA, the organiser of football world cup, owns numerous trade marks that either comprise the terms-’Fifa’ or ‘World Cup’ around the world

Twitter in a Patent lawsuit

Twitter Inc., the social networking site, is one of the three companies sued in the federal court in Wilmington, Delaware, for infringing a U.S. patent for systems and methods used in electronic messaging.

Cooper Notification, a unit of Cooper Industries Plc based in Florida, which provides mass security alerts and general announcements for employees and community residents, has sought a court injunction to stop Twitter from using the electronic messaging technology without a license.

The other two companies named are Everbridge Inc., based in California which provides notifications for crisis management and Rave Wireless Inc. of New York which sends safety messages via mobile phones to school and workplaces.

Twitter, based in San Francisco, is the third-largest U.S. social networking site after leader Facebook Inc. and News Corp.'s MySpace, and has more than 19 million users worldwide.

Datacard Group files Lawsuit against Eagle Technologies

Datacard Group, the world leader in secure ID and card personalization solutions has filed a patent and trademark infringement against Eagle Technologies, Ltd ("Eagle ") lawsuit in the United Kingdom.

Datacard Group’s lawsuit claims that Eagle sells supplies that infringe on its intellectual property rights. Datacard® Certified Supplies have been successfully producing innumerable cards and passports worldwide. Datacard’s careful designing and meticulous testing of its proprietary supplies ensures flawless compatibility, optimal quality and minimum operational risk.

Datacard also has a 40 year history of investing in industry-defining technologies, including supplies and have a number of patents for their systems and supplies, some of which, they think are being infringed by Eagle Technologies, Ltd.