Industry Trilateral + Trilateral Patent Office Meetings

The latest meeting of the Industry Trilateral was held in Tokyo, Japan on February 27 and 28, 2018.  The Industry Trilateral is made up of industry delegations from the United States, Europe and Japan and focuses on substantive patent law harmonization. Click on the link below to read more.

SIPO Announced Changing of Composition of Patent Certificates and their Duplicates

In order to better meet the needs of parties involved in economic and legal activities, the State Intellectual Property Office of the P.R.C. ("SIPO") provides real-time, convenient and transparent information channels to patent right holders and the public through an internet platform.  Based on this foundation, SIPO has now further optimized the composition of patent certificates and duplicates thereof.  According to Announcement No. 257 released on February 22, 2018, patent certificates and duplicates will no longer include patent pamphlets. 

UNIQLO Wins Trademark Infringement in China

Recently, the Guangzhou Intellectual Property Court issued the second-instance decision on Guangzhou Compass Exhibition Service Co., Ltd. and Guangzhou Zhongwei Enterprise Management Consulting Service Co., Ltd. v. Fast Retailing (China) Trading Co., Ltd. (The famous brand UNIQLO's retailer in China) and Fast Retailing (China) Trading Co., Ltd. Guangzhou Baixin Plaza Store regarding a trademark infringement, upholding the first-instance ruling and affirming that Fast Retailing Company did not infringe the exclusive right to use the trademark-in-suit.

Plaintiff's failure to reevaluate case post Alice results in fee award to opposing side

Patent-owner Inventor Holdings, LLC, sued American retailer Bed Bath & Beyond (BBB) for infringement of US Pat. No. 6,381,582, directed to a method of purchasing goods at a local point-of-sale system from a remote seller.  The suit was filed in April 2014, a mere two months before the U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision in Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank International in June 2014.  The district court determined in an August 2015 decision that the patent embodied the ineligible abstract idea of paying for remote orders at local retailers.

EPO objections of added subject-matter due to an Unallowable Intermediate Generalization

According to Art. 123(2) EPC, a European patent application or a European patent may not be amended in such a way that it contains subject-matter which extends beyond the content of the application as filed.  The idea underlying Art. 123(2) EPC is that an Applicant should not be allowed to improve their position by adding subject-matter not disclosed in the application as filed, which would give them an unwarranted advantage and could be damaging to the legal security of third parties relying on the content of the original application.