Saturday, February 13, 2010

Universal Adapter



Do you fret when you bring your electrical device to a foreign country and find that you can't connect it to the wall socket? There are various wall socket adopted by various countries. Lee Chiu Shan saw the need for a universal wall adapter to work with various wall socket. He invented a universal socket and file the patents in 35 countries around the world. The patents are marked in the product packaging.

Friday, February 12, 2010

EBay found liable in Louis Vuitton suit


EBay Inc. will pay about $316,500 to Louis Vuitton Malletier for legal costs and damages and stop using Internet search terms the luxury goods maker protested, following a ruling Thursday by the Paris District Court.

The online auction site was found liable for harming the reputation of Louis Vuitton trademarks, the company name and domain name - all held by LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton.

Ebay had been buying keywords such as "Viton," "Vitton" and "Wuiton" so that online shoppers using these misspellings into a search engine, along with anyone using the brand's correct spelling, would be directed to links promoting eBay, a Louis Vuitton spokeswoman said.

The court, which called eBay's actions "parasitic," ordered the company to stop using the keywords. The court said the practice harmed Louis Vuitton's brand.

The online auction house must pay Louis Vuitton euro200,000, or $275,000, in damages plus euro30,000, or $41,300, in legal costs. In a prepared statement, eBay said it was disappointed but noted Louis Vuitton was awarded less than the euro1.2 million, or $1.7 million, it sought. - StarBiz

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Malaysia increased PCT fillings in 2009 by 6.3%

Malaysia increased PCT fillings from 205 applications in 2008 to 218 applications in 2009, an increase of 6.3%. This is despite the global economic down turn and the drop of world PCT filling of 4.5%. The drop is due to the drop of filling of PCT in western countries: USA (-11.4%), Germany (-11.2%), UK (-3.5%).

The top applicants from developng countries identified in the PCT Report are the Republic of Korea (8,066) and China (7,946) followed by India (761), Singapore (594), Brazil (480), South Africa (389), Turkey (371), Malaysia (218), Mexico (185) and Barbados (96).

Top PCT Applicant of 2009 - Panasonic


Panasonic Corporation (Japan) returned to the top spot in the list of PCT applicants, nudging Huawei Technologies, Co., Ltd. (China) into second place. Panasonic Corporation had 1,891 PCT applications published in 2009, China's Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. had 1,847, followed by Robert Bosch GMBH (Germany, 1586 applications), Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Netherlands, 1,295 applications) and Qualcomm Incorporated (USA, 1280 applications). Four Japanese companies, Panasonic Corporation (ranked 1st), NEC Corporation (ranked 8th), Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (ranked 9th) and Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha (ranked 10th) featured in the list of top 10 largest filers. Ericsson (Sweeden) is ranked 6th and LG (Korea) is ranked 7th.

The University of California accounted for the largest number of applications published in the category of educational institutions. Most top-filing universities, however, experienced declines in the number of international patent filings in 2009. - WIPO

Number of PCT Applications Decline in 2009

International patent filings under WIPO's Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) fell by 4.5% in 2009 with sharper than average declines experienced by some industrialized countries and growth in a number of East Asian countries. Provisional data indicates that 155,900 international patent applications were filed in 2009 as compared to the nearly 164,000 applications filed in 2008.

"The decline in PCT filings is not as sharp as originally anticipated – last year's results bring us back to just under 2007 levels, when 159,886 international applications were filed," said WIPO Director General Francis Gurry. "Interestingly, the rate of decline in international filings is lower than that experienced in some national contexts. This is an indication of a broad recognition that it makes good business sense, whatever the economic conditions, to continue to protect commercially valuable technologies internationally."

International patent filings in a number of East Asian countries continued to enjoy positive growth in spite of the challenging global economic conditions. Japan, the second largest user of the PCT, experienced a 3.6% rate of growth with 29,827 applications; the Republic of Korea (ROK), ranked fourth largest user of the system, experienced 2.1% growth with 8,066 applications; and China became the fifth largest PCT user with a strong growth rate of 29.7%, representing some 7,946 international applications.

International patent filings experienced a sharper than average decline in a number of industrialized countries. For example, the filing rate dropped by 11.4% in the USA and by 11.2% in Germany in 2009. Declines were also experienced in the United Kingdom (-3.5%), Switzerland (-1.6%), Sweden (-11.3%), Italy (-5.8%), Canada (-11.7%), Finland (-2.2%), Australia (-7.5%) and Israel (-17.2%).

The United States of America (USA) maintained its top ranking, filing just under a third of all international applications in 2009 (45,790), followed by Japan (+3.6%, 29,827 applications), Germany (-11.2% or 16,736 applications), ROK (+2.1%, 8,066 applications), China (29.7%, 7,946 applications), France (+1.6%, 7166 applications), United Kingdom (-3.5% or 5,320 applications), the Netherlands (+3.0% or 4,471 applications), Switzerland (-1.6% or 3,688 applications) and Sweden (-11.3% or 3,667 applications). - WIPO