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IP Factor Logs 100,000th Hit
October 27, 2009
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Posted by Dr Michael Factor
Israel Patent Office Announces 2009 Student Patent Essay Competition Winners
October 27, 2009
Earlier this year, the Israel Patent Office has launched a prize for IP Essays submitted by students of college degrees.
The first prize was won by Mr class=”mceItemHidden”> Gadi Shevach Nevo of Tel Aviv University Law Faculty, for his essay entitled “Patent Trollers and Policy for Patent Infringment Claims”.
The second prize was won by Mr Itamar Morad of the Hebrew University, for his essay titled “Between Intellectual Property and Business Monopolies, the Return to Market Forces, the Weak Model”.
There will be a Prize Giving on 15 November 2009 at the Israel Patent Office.
For some reason – not published – the runner up is presenting a lecture on his topic but the prize winner isn’t!
Contact Lihi at lihiz@justice.gov.il to register.
We congratulate the Patent Office on initiating this event and hope that becomes an annual feature on the Israel IP Calendar.
Leave a Comment » | Academia, IPO, Intellectual Property, Israel, Israel Patent Office, News | Permalink
Posted by Dr Michael Factor
Lebanon Breaks Israel’s World Record for Hummus
October 27, 2009
To further their claims to intellectual property rights for hummus, as a Lebanese dish, 300 chefs in Beirut prepared a dish of hummus weighing 2056kg, by mixing 1360kg of mashed chickpeas, 333 litres of lemon juice and 26kg of salt to break the World record for the largest plate of the dip, that was established last May be Israel.
The Lebanese then went on to prepare a tabbouleh salad that weighed in at 3538kg and included 1596kg of parsley, 1496kg of tomatoes and 419kg of onions.
Actually, I view this development in a positive light. I think that if national pride and the Arab Israel Conflict could be redirected to fighting over world records instead of lobbing scuds and artillery shells over the fence, it is in everyone’s interest.
Leave a Comment » | Arab IP, Intellectual Property, Israel | Permalink
Posted by Dr Michael Factor
Arab Strategy Forum to Focus on Intellectual Property Rights
October 26, 2009The Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation has announced that 30 intellectuals and 200 thought-leaders will provide critical insights into the state of intellectual property rights and its role in the region’s economy, at the first in a series of seminars to mark the Arab Strategy Forum, a crucial platform for policy makers to network and share expertise on economic, geopolitical, social and cultural issues.
To be held in Dubai, the session titled ‘Transfer or indigenisation (sic) of knowledge?’ will define the second day of the event that will be held on 28th and 29th of October.
The discussions will apparently throw light on the legislative, organizational, cultural, and material requirements for intellectual property rights and will specifically examine the extent of Arab contributions to the development of the international conventions on property rights.
For more information: http://www.ameinfo.com/213654.html
We wonder if our good friend Dr. Amir Khoury of Tel Aviv University will attend and hope the event does not turn into another fiasco trying to copyright Hummous and the pyramids.
Come to think of it, as of tomorrow, I am expecting to pass the 100,000 reader mark on this blog, which makes me far and away the region’s most popular writer on IP issues. Although, not a major IP writer by Jewish standards, with a much smaller readership than either, say, Professor David Nimmer or Professor Jeremy Philips, nevertheless, as the Middle East’s number 1 IP blogger, who faithfully tries to cover IP events in Arab countries, I’d have expected an all expense paid, complimentary trip to this conference. Ah well.
Still, it would be nice if the Arab States decide to allow Israeli companies to register trademarks there. It would be nice if, 15 years after signing a peace treaty, Jordan would allow Israeli companies to register patents…
Leave a Comment » | Arab IP, Intellectual Property | Permalink
Posted by Dr Michael Factor
Teva fails to invalidate Vigamox
October 26, 2009
U.S. District Judge Sue L. Robinson (Delaware) ruled last week that Israel’s Teva Pharmaceuticals infringed the patents for Vigamox and failed to prove the patents invalid. Vigamox is used to treat eye infections and is made by Nestle’s Alcon unit. Teva challenged the validity of the patent in 2006. If it had been successful, Teva would have been able to launch its own competing product in 2014, six years before the expiration of the Vigamox patent.
Leave a Comment » | News, Patents, Teva, US, pharmaceuticals | Permalink
Posted by Dr Michael Factor
Russia Tries to Prevent Fake Kalashnikov Assault Rifles
October 25, 2009
Anatoly Isaikin, the chief of Russia’s state arms-trading monopoly, Rosoboronexport, has announced that the company will step up action to defend ‘copyright laws’ for Kalashnikov assault rifles produced without license by dozens of manufacturers around the world. Isaikin claims that counterfeit production of Kalashnikov Assault Rifles outside Russia has incurred financial losses, tarnished the brand because of their poor quality and dented Russia’s prestige.
I find this piece of news disturbing. By registration, designs may be protected for a number of years. The exact term is different in different countries. The Kalashnikov Assault rifle, like the American M-16 and the Israeli Uzi submachine gun are all classic pieces of engineering that have been around for long enough that I believe the designs are free for anyone to copy so long as they are marked with the country of origin.
Israel’s Uzi submachine gun, being a favorite of drug cartels, thugs and guerilla armies in general, is also widely copied. I suppose imitation is the best form of flattery.
Leave a Comment » | Copyright, design, famous marks | Permalink
Posted by Dr Michael Factor
ITC Throws Out Sandisk’s Attempts to Prevent Imports of Flash Memory into the US
October 25, 2009
Sandisk suffered a set-back last week, when the company failed to convince the International Trade Commission, washington, that some 50 companies were infringing their intellectual property. See In the Matter of Certain Flash Memory Controllers, Drives, Memory Cards and Media Players and Products Containing Same, 337-619, U.S. International Trade Commission (Washington).
On 23 October 2009, the Commission ruled against SanDisk Corp., finding that there had been “no violation.”.
Sandisk is a US-Israeli company. Many of the patents for flash memory were filed by Sandisk or m-systems, another Israeli company bought out by Sandisk for technology developed in Israel. Flash memory technology is used to store data in MP3 players, memory sticks, digital cameras and cell phones. In the current market, with purchases of electronic goods and upgrades of mobile phones at a low, licensing has become an important source of revenue for the company. According to their July report, Sandisk received over $191 million in licensing and royalty fees in the first six months of 2009, which represents 14% of its total revenue.
SanDisk had originally filed claims against almost 50 companies, including LG Electronics Inc. and Imation Corp., and asked the commission to ban imports to the U.S. of infringing products. However, 21 claims against companies were terminated because of settlements, consent orders and withdrawals. A further five companies defaulted. Companies that were still defendants last week included Phison Electronics Corp., Silicon Motion Technology Corp. and Skymedi Corp. (Taiwan); Power Quotient International Co., Transcend Information Inc. and Apacer Technology Inc. (Taipei); Syscom Development Co. (British Virgin Islands); Kingston Technology Corp. (US); and Dane-Elec Memory of Bagnolet, France.
Following losing the case before the commission, SanDisk shares fell 3.2 percent, to $22.12 on Nasdaq.
1 Comment | Intellectual Property, Israel, Israel IP, Israel Patent, Israel Related, News, infringement | Permalink
Posted by Dr Michael Factor
Israel Supreme Court Allows Generic Version of Apropos (i.e. General Mill’s Bugles) Snack
October 19, 2009
Israel food giant Osem manufactures Apropos based on raw material supplied by General Mills. Apropos is a snack food having a fairly distinctive cornucopia shape. Apparently, the snack is marketed in the US under the tradename “Bugles”. The shape has, however, not been trademarked, at least not in Israel, and the possible grounds for preventing rival snack food manufacturers from making generic versions of the snack are unjust enrichment, passing off, etc.
The Supreme Court has upheld the District Court’s refusal to issue an injunction against Meshubach Food Industries, Jerusalem, and A. M. Emek Snackfoods, who market similar shaped snacks under the brands Le Nosh and Pipeto.
The Supreme Court held that despite the similar shapes of Le Nosh and Pipeto, because of the dissimilar name and packaging, consumers were unlikely to be confused. Similarly, unjust enrichment arguments were rejected.
We wonder though. Is there really no likelihood of confusion? Could children be confused if served the snack food from a bowl? What about allergies and Kashruth considerations?
We note that the decision is in line with a similar decision regarding Tottiffee. Nevertheless, the shape is distinctive, so why shouldn’t it be protectable by a trademark?
Osem has long lost their monopoly for the brand-leader peanut flavored snack, Bamba, with Shoosh and other generic versions being available.
Leave a Comment » | Intellectual Property, Israel, Israel Court Ruling, Israel IP, Israel Patent, Israel Patent Office, Israel Patent Office Rulings, Israel Trademark, News, Uncategorized | Permalink
Posted by Dr Michael Factor
Teva Sues to Obtain a Restriction Order Against Mylan
October 18, 2009Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd have sued pre=”sued “>Mylan Inc, alleging that Mylan’s application to market a generic version of glatiramer acetate, infringed certain patents covering the chemical composition of Teva’s multiple sclerosis drug Copaxone, pharmaceutical compositions containing it and methods of using it.
Teva maintains that the patents are enforceable until May 2014. By filing suit, Teva hopes to restrict approval of Mylan’s generic version of drug for up to 30 months.
Leave a Comment » | Intellectual Property, Israel Patent, News, Patents, drugs, infringement, pharmaceuticals | Permalink
Posted by Dr Michael Factor
Israel Patent Office Hosts European Biology/Chemistry Examiners
October 18, 2009The Israel Patent Office hosted a seminar featuring examiners from the European Patent Office. The focus was on examining chemistry and genetic applications, and presentations covered examining Markush type claims, oppositions and unity of invention.
The presentations were fairly pedestrian and not very exciting. We learned that there is a two year deadline for filing divisional applications, but instead of explaining that annuities were required retroactively, which for the inexperienced can be a nasty shock, or giving useful tips, the presenter labored the straightforward 24 month point with examples! The cakes provided as refreshments were good, but the coffee and tea were Elite Instant, Botz (Turkish-’mud’ coffee, and Wissotzky blue label cheap and nasty tea bags.
One of the examiners spoke briefly in Hebrew albeit with a very strong French accent. the crowd applauded his efforts. Tomorrow, the same presentation is being presented at Haifa university and in Tel Aviv.
In terms of the content, not very interesting and perhaps not worth attending. However, the seminar did provide an opportunity to see the new patent office premises which are very impressive. The lecture theatre seats 120 on leatherette seats. There are good acoustics and nice projector equipment. We hope that the seminars for Examiners only will prove informative and that will improve examining standards.
One clear advantage of the Patent Office hosting seminars for the profession is that people from the different offices feel that the activity is for them, whereas many practitioners feel uncomfortable attending events organized by rival firms. A necessary consequence of official patent office patronage of IP seminars is that controversial and therefore, potentially more interesting topics are avoided. Indeed, we think that for the patent office to become involved in anything beyond procedure, such as say discussing the scope of patentable material or other gray areas may be problematic as there is a conflict of interest between the profession and the patent office. Like all IP seminars aimed at the profession, the event provided a good opportunity to catch up with acquaintances.
Leave a Comment » | EPO, Intellectual Property, Patents, patent search, patentable subject matter, pharmaceuticals, pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology | Permalink
Posted by Dr Michael Factor
