Nano Theme

NEWS

Qualcomm handed a defeat in European iPhone patent infringement case

Created 18 October 2018

(7 hits)

(0 comments)

appleinsider Thursday, October 11, 2018 11:03 AM

In a first anywhere for the ongoing legal fight between Qualcomm and Apple, a Munich regional court has rendered a final judgment in a Qualcomm patent complaint against Apple, awarding victory to Apple.

The iPhone 7 and 7 Plus don't violate a Qualcomm European patent, EP1199750, which covers a "post[-]passivation interconnection scheme on top of [an] IC chip," a three-judge panel ruled according to FOSS Patents. The decision comes just one week after a trial, which may suggest that even if Qualcomm files an appeal with the Munich Higher Regional Court, it could face an uphill battle.

Several other German cases are still in progress. One is going to trial in Munich on Nov. 8, and a ruling on another —also in Munich, involving the iPhone's Spotlight search — should arrive in December. Still more actions are being dealt with in the city of Mannheim.

Apple launched its first case against Qualcomm in January 2017, and since then the two companies have filed actions against each other around the world. Simultaneously the firms have had to address various regulatory bodies.

In September, the U.S. International Trade Commission dealt a blow to Qualcomm byruling against banning iPhone imports, even though Apple may have violated one of three cited patents. iPhone assembly takes place entirely overseas, so Apple would have received a serious financial hit had a ban taken effect.

Apple has accused Qualcomm of withholding promised rebates and abusing its market position to demand high royalties. Qualcomm though has complained that Apple is not only violating patents, but even sharing its trade secrets with Intel. iPhones have long used Qualcomm modems, but the iPhone XS line is Intel-only.

Amazon patents Alexa tech to tell if you’re sick, depressed and sell you meds

Created 18 October 2018

(3 hits)

(0 comments)

Amazon has patented technology that could let Alexa analyze your voice to determine whether you are sick or depressed and sell you products based on your physical or emotional condition.

The patent, titled "Voice-based determination of physical and emotional characteristics of users," was issued on Tuesday this week; Amazon filed the patent application in March 2017.

The patent describes a voice assistant that can detect "abnormal" physical or emotional conditions. "For example, physical conditions such as sore throats and coughs may be determined based at least in part on a voice input from the user, and emotional conditions such as an excited emotional state or a sad emotional state may be determined based at least in part on voice input from a user," the patent says. "A cough or sniffle, or crying, may indicate that the user has a specific physical or emotional abnormality."

It's not clear what ads would be sent based on a user's emotional state, but someone who is sick might be asked if they want to buy cold medicine.

"A current physical and/or emotional condition of the user may facilitate the ability to provide highly targeted audio content, such as audio advertisements or promotions, to the user," the patent said.

If the Amazon voice assistant determines that you have a sore threat, the system would "communicate with the audio content server(s)" to select the appropriate ad. "For example, certain content, such as content related to cough drops or flu medicine, may be targeted towards users who have sore throats," the patent says.

Alexa might then ask, "would you like to order cough drops with 1 hour delivery?" After the order is made, the voice assistant "may append a message to the audible confirmation, such as well wishes, or 'feel better!'"

System could raise privacy concerns

Companies get patents all the time for technologies that never make it to market, so there is no guarantee this capability will be implemented in future versions of Alexa.

Amazon would have to consider the privacy implications of letting its voice assistant analyze the emotional and physical states of Amazon customers. Amazon and other tech companies last month were called to a Senate Commerce Committee hearing to testify about consumer data privacy, and senators are considering whether to write a new privacy law.

Read more at arsTechnica

New patent reveals that Huawei might launch a phone with two screen areas

Created 18 October 2018

(5 hits)

(0 comments)

Huawei might be working on a new device which will come with two screens. The device won’t be having two different screens but would have a virtual separation between the screens which will be used for different purposes.

The patent titled “device with peripheral task bar display zone and under-LCD screen optical sensor module for on-screen fingerprint sensing” recently surfaced on the USPTO and was filed by Huawei in the beginning of the year. The patent shows an in-display fingerprint scanner which will be placed at the lower half of the screen along with a taskbar which would operate separately from the display. This separate taskbar will be used to show notifications and other important messages including alerts, text messages, etc.

Coming to the fingerprint sensor, Huawei is working on a way to add health features to the in-display fingerprint sensor. The sensor would be able to read heart rate and detect heart beat as well. Another possible feature is reading the blood oxygen and glucose level in the blood which might be possible with the optical sensor.

Via: Letsgodigital

Microsoft maakt 60.000 patenten openbron

Created 16 October 2018

(4 hits)

(0 comments)

%MCEPASTEBIN%

Els Bellens, Data News.

Techgigant Microsoft wordt lid van het Open Invention Network, een organisatie die Linux wilt beschermen. Daartoe geeft het bedrijf ook een grote reeks patenten vrij.

Microsoft vervoegt het Open Invention Network (OIN), een openbron patentengroep die bestaat om Linux te beschermen tegen patentenrechtszaken. Dat schrijft het bedrijf op zijn blog. OIN is een licentieplatform voor Linux met zo'n 2.400 leden. Elk van die leden krijgt gratis toegang tot de OIN-patenten en beschikbare licenties van andere leden. (Verder lezen)

EPO and Chinese IP office sign bilateral co-operation plan

Created 08 October 2018

(13 hits)

(0 comments)

The EPO and the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA, formerly SIPO) have agreed on a co-operation programme for next year as part of their long-term strategic partnership on strengthening the patent system. The 2019 co-operation work plan was signed by EPO President António Campinos and CNIPA Commissioner Shen Changyu on Friday at their annual heads of office meeting in Munich.

The plan focuses on areas such as patent law and patent examination guidelines, examination quality, data exchange, classification, search tools and machine translation, and also foresees a joint study on computer-implemented inventions. It falls under the framework of the comprehensive strategic partnership agreement signed by the EPO and the Chinese office last year - the first such agreement between two major patent offices.

Samsung Forced to Pay Apple $539 Million for Violating iPhone Patents

Created 29 May 2018

(174 hits)

(0 comments)

Rutherford (Gizmodo)

This patent battle between Apple and Samsung is the lawsuit that just won’t go away.

Since 2011, the two smartphone giants have been fighting over five patents due to the claim that Samsung infringed on Apple’s intellectual property when it made a handful of devices including the original Galaxy S 4G, the Galaxy S2, and the Droid Charge.

In earlier hearings, the court had already determined Samsung did infringe on two of the utility patents in question, which was determined by the jury in the most recent trial to be worth a fine of $5.3 million.

However, the more contentious part of the lawsuit involves the three design patents (1, 2, 3) in question, which describe a device with a black front, rounded rectangular corners, similarly curved surrounding bezels, and a colorful grid of icons.

%MCEPASTEBIN%

Bee gone: Scientists turn to technology as declining bee numbers threaten global food security

Created 23 May 2018

(147 hits)

(0 comments)

Research into robotic replacements for bees is being spearheaded by Eijiro Miyako at Japan’s National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology. A manually controlled drone, the device is around four centimeters wide and is covered in horse hair treated with a gel designed to collect pollen. In March, US retail giant Walmart filed a patent for robotic bees that it hopes will be able to pollinate crops like their real-life counterparts. Although the company’s plans for the robotic-swarm patent are unclear, some experts believe the retail giant is moving further into the agriculture market.

KU Leuven ‘meest innovatieve universiteit van Europa’

Created 27 April 2018

(125 hits)

(0 comments)

De Standaard 25 april 2018

...De lijst van innovatieve universiteiten werd opgesteld in samenwerking met Clarivate Analytics. Er werd voornamelijk rekening gehouden met patenten en wetenschappelijke verwijzingen...

Een uitvinding per dag in de Belgische chemie

Created 27 April 2018

(112 hits)

(0 comments)

De Tijd 27 april 2018 (Tom Michielsen, Redacteur Ondernemen) België is een innovatiekampioen in de wereld van plastics, chemicaliën, geneesmiddelen en vaccins. Met 417 toegekende patenten in 2017 staan de Belgische chemie en farma op de elfde plaats in de wereld.

Van de 1.215 toegekende Belgische patenten ging een derde (34%) naar de chemie. Nergens ter wereld is dat aandeel zo groot. Biotech (20%), fijnchemie (18%), geneesmiddelen (14%) en kunststoffen (polymeren, composieten) nemen het grootste deel voor hun rekening.

Aantal octrooiaanvragen bereikt nieuw record

Created 14 March 2018

(182 hits)

(0 comments)

Het Europees Octrooibureau heeft zijn statistieken voor 2017 gepubliceerd. Het aantal octrooiaanvragen is met 3,9 procent gestegen tot een nieuw record van 165.590. België verliest een plaatsje in de hitlijst en eindigt dertiende met 2155 aanvragen.

Lees meer

The European Patent Office Revokes the Broad Institute‘s CRISPR Patents

Created 06 February 2018

(197 hits)

(0 comments)

The Broad Institute has been dealt a big blow in its battle for CRISPR/Cas9 intellectual property, with the European Patent Office revoking one of its patents.

CRISPR/Cas9 has been hailed as the ‘scientific discovery of the century’ due to its capacity to modify the genome for the treatment of genetic diseases. The Broad Institute, set up by MIT and Harvard in 2004 to use genomics to improve human health, successfully obtained a patent from the US Patent Office for its use in eukaryotes. However, the European Patent Office (EPO) has revoked the first of several patents obtained by the Broad Institute, citing a clear lack of novelty.

Bank of America Has More Blockchain Patents than IBM

Created 06 February 2018

(360 hits)

(0 comments)

Bank of America has more blockchain-related patents than any other firm in the U.S., according to a new report by New York-based law firm EnvisionIP.

According to the report, Bank of America has 43 patents while Mastercard and IBM have 27 each, followed by 14 from Fidelity.

The report counted a total of 1,045 blockchain related patents. Of this number, about 60% of patents were filed by blockchain companies, while the financial services sector accounted for 20%.

Read more at Finextra and Payments Source.

The Year in Patents: The Top 10 Patent Stories from 2017

Created 08 January 2018

(316 hits)

(0 comments)

A review of 2017 by Gene Quinn of IPWatchdog in 10 patent stories.

WIPO: China Drives Record Patent, Trademark, Design Filings in 2016

Created 08 December 2017

(413 hits)

(0 comments)

Patents

China's State Intellectual Property Office received the highest number of patent applications in 2016, a record total of 1.3 million. It was followed by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (605,571), the Japan Patent Office (318,381), the Korean Intellectual Property Office (208,830) and the European Patent Office (159,358). On a per-capita basis, patent filings in China ranked behind those in Germany, Japan, the Republic of Korea and the U.S.

New USPTO Fees

Created 07 December 2017

(394 hits)

(0 comments)

The USPTO has finalized a new set of fees: Final Rules.

USPTO Patent Fees to Go Up effective January 2018
Patentlyo | Nov 14, 2017
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (Office or USPTO) sets or adjusts patent fees as authorized by the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act. The USPTO has announced that it will increase some of its fees effective from January 16, 2018. The changes will also apply to the international design applications under the Hague Agreement.

Login (oc)