Ominous covid-19 signs for IP; Acacia lands Yahoo! patents; Gamechanging German FRAND ruling; Top EPO filing firms; WiLAN’s huge IBM chip patent deal; 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 11th May
An industry group called the Mobile China Alliance is publicly calling on Chinese authorities to investigate Sharp’s patent licensing practices. Read more here
A much-anticipated German Supreme Court FRAND decision issued last week could make patent hold-out a far less attractive option across Europe. Read more here
Purchase of former Yahoo! patents "creates an attractive blend of licensing and litigation opportunities to pursue," says Acacia CEO. Read more here
TUESDAY 12th May
Appliance maker Gree – one of China’s top patent owners – won a significant court judgment for patent infringement last month on the strength of a utility model right. Read more here
The CJEU’s Royalty Pharma decision answers important questions about SPC protection in Europe but creates new uncertainties. Read more here
Thought leaders from top US law firms debate how to maximise the chances of success in an inter partes review at the PTAB. Read more here
The rejected DABUS patent applications highlight how laws are lagging reality and potentially harming the innovation process as lines between human and AI-powered inventions blur. Read more here
WEDNESDAY 13th May
Citing the need to protect technology and patents, Japan is set to screen attempts by foreign entities to take stakes in over 500 companies deemed critical to national security. Read more here
Ominous covid-19 signs as top IP professionals share their experiences of working in the shadow of a pandemic and explain what they believe might happen next. Read more here
Hedge fund-backed lawsuit against billion-dollar video streaming start-up Quibi is based on a solid but unspectacular patent, IAM analysis finds. Read more here
THURSDAY 14th May
Huawei has unveiled an alliance with nearly all of China's top automakers aimed at getting 5G into vehicles. Read more here
Patent cliff fears drove Alexion Pharmaceuticals’ $1.4 billion acquisition of Portola, the second biggest pharma deal of the year. Read more here
Patent practitioners are warming to the reforms of the PTAB introduced by Andrei Iancu. Four of them explain why. Read more here
A look into the IAM back catalogue to see how we have covered the evolution of Intellectual Ventures, the pioneering patent market player. Read more here
The PTAB’s growing use of procedural denials is helping to swing the IPR pendulum in favour of patent owners. Read more here
FRIDAY 15th May
Head of India’s IP Appeal Board outlines plan for the understaffed tribunal to take up hundreds of matters virtually, as government continues to stonewall on new appointments. Read more here
The recent English high court decision in Akebia v Fibrogen has lessons for those seeking to protect Markush claims and prevent off-label uses of their medicines. Read more here
From key case law to radical new ways of working, four leading experts share their predictions about what might happen next at the PTAB. Read more here
German and UK firms dominate the top 50 list of those filing most published patent applications for their clients at the EPO last year. Read more here
WiLAN has acquired more than 1,000 US patent assets from IBM that appear to relate mostly to semiconductor technology. Read more here
SATURDAY 16th May
The one hundredth issue of IAM magazine will be published next month. We look at how it all began and where things are heading. Read more here
IAM has made all its content relating to the covid-19 pandemic free-to-view. You can access our back catalogue via this link.