Posts Tagged: "international patents"

Canadian Toymaker Spin Master Scores Big Chinese Patent Damages Victory

On April 20, international IP firm Rouse announced the positive results of a patent infringement case brought in Chinese courts on behalf of Spin Master, a Canadian children’s toy and entertainment firm. The decision from the Suzhou Intermediate People’s Court  found that defendant Guangzhou Lingdong Creative Culture Technology’s line of accused “Eonster Hunter” products infringed upon Spin Master patent claims covering the company’s line of Bakugan rollable transforming toys. The court awarded damages of 15 million RMB ($2.2 million USD), the largest damages award ever awarded by a Chinese court to a foreign patent owner.

U.S. Patent System Holds Steady in Second Place in 2020 International IP Rankings

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Global Innovation Policy Center (GIPC) released its eighth annual International IP Rankings. The United States achieved the top overall ranking as the strongest intellectual property regime in the world. The U.S. also tied for second place in the patent specific worldwide rankings with Japan, South Korea and Switzerland. In first place again this year for patents was Singapore, which marks the third consecutive year Singapore has achieved recognition as the top overall patent jurisdiction in the world.

Farewell Brazilian Backlog: Brazilian PTO Introduces Standardized Office Action Program

The Brazilian PTO has officially introduced its longed-for strategy to solve the enduring patent backlog problem in Brazil.  The plan is to reduce the patent backlog by at least 80% in the course of the next two years with the use of “standardized office actions” – that is, machine-made technical opinions that will simply point out prior art documents to be addressed by the applicant.  Once the backlog is finally dealt with — likely by 2021— the PTO estimates it will to be able to examine future patent applications within twenty-four (24) months. If the goals of the program are achieved, the Brazilian PTO will be finally able to stand on equal footing with its foreign counterparts in the developed world with regard to the average patent examination time.

PCT 101: International Patent Application Filing Basics

The appeal of the PCT process is that it enables patent applicants to file a single patent application and have that single, uniform patent application be treated as an initial application for patent in any Member Country.  This single, uniform patent application is what is referred to as the international application. Filing an international patent application to start the patent process can frequently be a wise move if you are contemplating securing patent rights in multiple countries. It is, however, important to understand that obtaining international patent protection is not cheap. It is also important to understand that the international patent application you file will not mature into an international patent.

U.S. Patent System Falls to 12th Place in Chamber Global IP Index for 2018

While the United States continues to do well overall, patent protection continues to be problematic. In 2017 the U.S. ranked 10th worldwide in terms of offering patent protection to innovators. This year, the U.S. fell out of the top 10, tumbling to a tie for 12th with Italy… With a decrease in the score relative to patent protection from 2017 to 2018, the United States joins a handful of other countries that are not thought of as being at all intellectual property friendly. Those countries having a weaker performance relative to patents in 2018 include the United States, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Peru, Mexico, Indonesia, Columbia, Chile and Australia. See page 22 of the Chamber report.