Aon’s big IP finance play; US damages surge; InterDigital wins ant-anti-suit injunction; IBM and Alibaba patent deal; When FRAND means license-to-all; plus much more
Everything we covered on IAM over the last seven days – and all you need to know from the global IP market to set yourself up for the start of another busy week
MONDAY 5th October
A slew of recently published Chinese IP office decisions knock out patents belonging to Fractus, Sharp, Sisvel, Conversant and others. Read more here
Nvidia’s proposed Arm acquisition would significantly improve the US company’s IP cover in several key areas – but would not come consequence free. Read more here
With Supreme Court oral arguments in the key Google v Oracle copyright case due this week, Mozilla IP counsel argues that the case provides a chance to fuel tech innovation and competition. Read more here
TUESDAY 6th October
Recent patent transactions suggest that Japanese auto allies Denso and Toyota are fine-tuning their IP positions as they push into all-electric cars. Read more here
Dividing the Unified Patent Court’s life sciences division between Munich and Paris would be a mistake, warns diagnostics and medical devices IP leader. Read more here
So far this year, nine damages awards of over $100 million have been made by US district courts in patent cases - that's more than the number for 2017, 2018 and 2019 combined. Read more here
WEDNESDAY 7th October
Sharp has settled long-standing SEP-related patent litigation with Daimler just a few weeks after securing an injunction award against the German company from a court in Munich. Read more here
Can artificial intelligence be an inventor for the purposes of a patent? It is a question that the English High Court has answered recently with a resounding “no”. Read more here
Aon launches potentially gamechanging IP finance initiative with $100 million loan to Massachusetts-based agritech company. Read more here
THURSDAY 8th October
The cost of codec licensing is not justified by the state of the technology and video implementers must work together to avoid standards dysfunction, says Xiaomi's IP strategy chief Paul Lin. Read more here
In an exclusive interview, spinal surgery pioneer and IP billionaire Gary Michelson tells IAM that it is important to ensure the US public does not get a rough deal from patent owners. Read more here
IBM’s recent run of dealmaking continues apace, with USPTO records showing that Big Blue transferred a number of patent assets to AliBaba at the start of October. Read more here
FRIDAY 9th October
Taiwan’s Minister of Economic Affairs, Wang Mei-Hua, says that a robust IP environment can encourage re-shoring and greater investment in local R&D efforts. Read more here
Despite a string of previous litigation successes, Sonos’s patents face their biggest challenge yet as the speaker technology innovator takes on Google. Read more here
WiLAN’s owner signals that Q3 income will grow significantly year-on-year as the NPE’s focus on the semiconductor sector continues to pay off. Read more here
Delhi’s High Court grants InterDigital’s request for an anti-anti-suit injunction against Xiaomi in a further escalation of the international FRAND licensing courtroom battle between the two. Read more here
SATURDAY 10th October
Plenty of standards setting bodies have a license-to-all requirement and where doubt exists they should move to clear up any ambiguity. Read more here