IP no covid-19 vaccine barrier; Samsung’s $2.4bn annuities bill; Google, Facebook patent sprees; Chinese NPE crackdown call; EPO top for quality, USPTO slips; 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 25th May

Big-names continue to sign up to Japan’s covid-19 patent pledge, but several have taken the opportunity to narrow its terms and remind potential infringers they won’t tolerate abuse. Read more here

Defensive patent operator AST has completed a new “buy-it-now” patent acquisition programme with a small group of its members including Google, Microsoft, Oracle and Uber. Read more here

TUESDAY 26th May

Nokia, Philips and Fractus are among the patent owners with active patent cases in India targeting major Chinese companies. Read more here

A much-anticipated WHO platform intended to pool IP rights, data and know-how relating to covid-19 has little pharma buy-in. Read more here

Around $8 billion is set to be spent this year on patent renewals, with Samsung heading the list of companies with most to pay. Read more here

WEDNESDAY 27th May

One of China’s most high-profile business executives has called for a crackdown on patent trolls – a group she defines as including both NPEs and so-called malicious infringers. Read more here

EPO top for quality and service, survey finds, while Asian agencies improve; the news is less positive for the USPTO, though. Read more here

NPE suits in the auto sector are on the rise with traditional players, disruptors and suppliers all being targeted, according to new data from RPX. Read more here

THURSDAY 28th May

South Korea’s Hanwha Q-Cells looks to be coming up short in a big ITC patent case and now a state-owned Chinese rival is going on the offensive. Read more here

The PTAB has held a remote hearing of the second CRISPR-cas9 patent interference between the University of California and the Broad Institute, a dispute causing considerable licensing uncertainty. Read more here

Targeted by both Broadcom and Personalized Media Communications this year, Netflix is beginning to prepare for its new patent normal. Read more here

The 1,000+ patent assets that WiLAN recently acquired from IBM still have plenty of shelf life left, NPE’s CEO tells IAM in an exclusive interview. Read more here

FRIDAY 29th May

Ninebot, owner of the Segway brand, has undertaken a massive patent enforcement campaign in China as it seeks to go public on the high-tech board of the Shanghai Stock Exchange. Read more here

Google and Facebook add to their patent portfolios in another sign of increasing activity on the secondary market. Read more here

Research undertaken for IAM finds that while a composite of the biggest patent holders under-performs the NASDAQ, on a sector-by-sector basis the picture is a lot more nuanced. Read more here

SATURDAY 30th May

If China is the first country in which an effective vaccine for covid-19 is developed, compulsory licensing of any IP that underpins it is unlikely to be an issue. 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.

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