GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATION

KERALA PEPPER, CARDAMOM ACQUIRE GI STATUS

The Spices Board of India under the Ministry of Commerce has obtained GI status for Malabar pepper and Alleppey green cardamom.

The Board has also registered ginger and turmeric as products that have unique flavor and characteristics because they are grown in a specific geographical region of India. This geographical indication (GI) status will help branding these spices as premium products that cannot be matched by similar crops grown in other parts of the world.

The Malabar Pepper (Piper nigrum) grown in India's Malabar Coast has higher Piperine content of 7% and a volatile oil content of 4.5%. Known as 'the queen of spices', cardamom is an exquisite spice grown in the tropical rain forest plantations of Kerala. Its green seeds have been chewed raw and added to food preparations, wines and sweets for its pleasant aroma, since ancient times. The aromatic Alleppey green-cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum) is cultivated mainly in South India and mostly in Kerala.

India with more than 40% share of the world area under pepper, contributes about 23% of the total production of pepper in the world. Kerala accounts for 97.4 per cent of the total area under the crop in the country.

PATENT

NEW MANUAL OF PATENT OFFICE PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE AND DESIGNS PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE PUBLISHED

The Indian Patent Office has finalized and published the latest Manuals of Patent Office Practice and Procedure and Designs Practice and Procedure. The Patent Manual details various practices to be followed by the patent office at different stages of the patent process, starting from filing of a patent application till the patent renewals.

The Design Manual based on the provisions of Designs Act, 2000 and the Designs Rules, 2001 as amended in 2008, provide complete information on the practice and procedures followed by Designs Wing of the Indian Patent Office, for processing of Design Applications to the public and users of Design Registration System.

The latest manuals would be helpful in simplifying and reorganizing the existing patenting system by explaining the guidelines that are to be followed in the process. The access to the exact procedure involved in the prosecution of applications would result in greater efficiency and improve the transparency of the process.

INDIAN SCIENTISTS PREVENT UK FIRM FROM PATENTING BHANG

Indian scientists have successfully prevented a British drug company's attempt to patent the medicinal properties of bhang- an ancient intoxicant. GW Pharma Limited had filed an application with the European Patent Office (EPO) to patent Cannabis sativa for its properties to treat cough and bronchitis.

Bhang, as is called in India has been known for centuries and its medicinal properties are detailed in Ayurvedic and Unani texts. The Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL) provided the evidence to EPO which accepted the same. GW Pharma Limited has withdrawn its application following objections by Indian authorities.

RIM WINS ACCESS TO 30,000 INTELLECTUAL VENTURES PATENTS

Research In Motion, the BlackBerry maker has reached a licensing deal with Intellectual Ventures that will give the company access to more than 30,000 patents held by the intellectual property company.

This deal, the details of which are not known would help RIM remain competitive by accessing a broader set of patents to help manage its business.

Intellectual Ventures which as customers like Samsung and HTC, is a privately-held company co-founded by former Microsoft chief technology officer Nathan Myhrvold in 2000. This company, last December, had sued nine companies for infringing patents covering technologies used in telecommunications, computing and networking.

The Canadian company, RIM is also a member of RPX, a defensive patent collector that acquires patents so they cannot be involved in lawsuits against its corporate members. It sued a startup company Kik Interactive last year, claiming its founder, a former RIM employee, had infringed patents by constructing a cross-platform instant messaging service that rivaled RIM's BlackBerry Messenger.

 

32 COMPANIES SUED FOR A SINGLE-PATENT INFRINGEMENT

A single patent is in the center of a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas Dallas Division against a total of 32 technology companies. H-W Technology, a Texas-based company has sued Apple, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, eBay, Motorola, Nokia, Sony, Verizon, Expedia, Priceline, Hotels.com, and 20 other companies and sister companies, claiming infringement of a single patent.

The patent under debate is the US patent number 7,525,955, relating to an "Internet protocol (IP) phone with search and advertising capability." The patent granted in April 2009 is "a software platform in an Internet Protocol (IP) phone having the ability to be used with different communication infrastructures such as broadband, wireless communication and Plain Old Telephone System (POTS) service". It can also be used with different applications operating on the IP phone and has the capability to perform extra tasks like searches and advertising.

The suit particularly aims at Apple's iPhone, RIM's Torch, Samsung's Focus, HTC's Thunderbolt, and Motorola's Droid X, all of which are allegedly infringing on the patent. HW Technology has sought for a cease and desist order targeting companies that offered a feed to use the search and advertising facilities in the allegedly infringed patent.

TRADEMARK

APPLE SUES AMAZON.COM OVER 'APP STORE' TRADEMARK

Apple Inc. has sued Amazon.com Inc. over its use of the phrase "App Store," alleging trademark infringement by the online retailer. Apple Inc. in a complaint filed in the federal court for the Northern District of California, has sought unspecified damages and an injunction stopping Amazon from using the Apple's "App Store" trademark for a mobile software developer program. Apple alleged that consumers of mobile software downloads would be confused as to whether Amazon's mobile software download service is sponsored or approved by Apple. The two companies compete with each other in many businesses including e-books as well as digital music and movie sales.

Apple had registered the trademark on the term “App Store” on July 17, 2008 and has been using the name since then to refer to its applications store for iPhones, iPod touches and iPads. This mark is being challenged by Microsoft Corp. which claims that the term is too to be afforded protection and is currently subject to proceedings before an appeals board of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Apple alleges that Amazon began using the phrase around January this year to refer to its mobile-software download service. Amazon, however, mentions it as "Appstore," with no space and a lower case 's' in "Amazon Appstore Developer Portal" and "Amazon Appstore".