1. The world IP G5 agreed to build a ‘big data’ system of patent information in a patent summit conference of IP5 held in Silicon Valley, USA
A patent summit conference meeting of the IP5, five (5) most patent powerful nations, was held June 4 (Tuesday) and 5 (Wednesday) in Silicon Valley, USA. About 70 people of private and public delegations including the commissioners and assistant chiefs of the Patent Offices of the IP5 nations and the secretary general of WIPO attend this IP5 conference held in the extreme interest of the whole world IP industries. In this conference, one day was scheduled for a joint meeting with industrial groups representing the five (5) nations (areas). So they directly listened to the requirements of the industrial fields and discussed the ways to improve the patent systems.
The commissioners of the Patent Offices of the IP5 nations decided to strengthen the international cooperation in examination work to deal with the patent examination burden gradually increasing according to the increase of applications filed and to enhance the consistency of the patent examination among the nations. In addition, they also agreed to build a ‘big data system’ of patent information so that companies and the general public can easily access world patent information.
To this end, they adopted the Patent Information Policy to be carried out from this year. This Patent Information Policy is to promote the harmonization of the classification system of different patent literatures which are used by each country and to share the rapidly increasing patent information of each nation with the Patent Offices of the IP5 nations and to distribute the information to people for free. A road map was decided to build the Global Dossier, a global patent information system, to one-stop check, in real time, examination progresses and results thereof of each Patent Office.
2. The government comes out to preoccupy patent technology for photovoltaic generation
- The Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) held a meeting inviting the representatives of photovoltaic generation-related organizations
KIPO held the meeting to discuss a plan to support the creation of the photovoltaic generation patent technology by inviting the representatives of five (5) related organizations in the domestic photovoltaic generation field, including the Korea Photovoltaic Industry Association (KOPIA).
The photovoltaic generation industry which is a representative of a new renewable energy industry has the features of the infinity of energy resources, harmlessness to environments, high employment creation, low entry barriers, etc. Therefor, it is expected as an important industry capable of solving the social economic issues, such as energy, environments, employment, etc.
Before the meeting, three (3) organizations, KOPIA, the Korean Solar Energy Society and KIPO, respectively presented the data for research of industrial trends, cost analysis and patent trends in the photovoltaic generation field.
The representatives of the organizations will exchange their opinions on the following subjects: △ photovoltaic generation industrial trends △ prediction of time to achieve domestic grid parity △ private and public cooperation plan to preoccupy patent technology in the photovoltaic generation field △ forming a consultative group of domestic photovoltaic generation-related organizations, etc.
3. A trend of patent applications for ultrasonic welding
Ultrasonic welding is available when joining thin films or thin wires which are difficult to be joined by general welding techniques. Ultrasonic welding has an advantage of being used in joining different metals.
Because of these advantages, the application of the ultrasonic welding technique which would be used in the mechanic industrial field, mainly automobiles, in the past, has been progressively expanded to the most-advanced technological fields, such as solar batteries, semiconductors, electronics and telecommunications, etc.
According to KIPO, the number of the patent applications related to the ultrasonic welding technique was only 6 in 2002 but it increased to 23 in 2011. A total of about 130 applications were filed during the last ten (10) years.
By applicants, 61% of the total number of the relevant patent applications was filed by Korean applicants and 39% was filed by foreign applicants. The number of the patent applications related to the ultrasonic welding technique filed by Korean applicants which was only 3 in 2002 greatly increased to 15 in 2011. This increase is considered as reflecting the development of the ultrasonic welding-related industries, such as Korean automobiles, electronics, etc.
4. Samsung won the appeal trial against Apple in a patent dispute in Japan
Samsung Electronics which has been in patent litigation with Apple throughout the world won the appeal trial related to a data sharing technique, which had progressed in the Japanese Court.
According to a Kyodo News Service, on June 25, 2013, the Justice Department of the Japanese IP High Court maintained the decision of the first trial against the plaintiff in a trial for compensation ,100 million Yen (about 14 billion Korea Won), claimed by Apple arguing that Samsung infringed a patent, ‘method of synchronizing media player contents and computer information’.
This is a first judgment of the appeal trial in the patent litigation between Samsung and Apple, which has been pending in Japan. The issue of this trial is whether the technique used when downloading music data, etc. by accessing a mobile communication terminal of Samsung Electronics (Galaxy S, etc.) to a computer corresponds to Apple’s patent. Regarding this, in the first trial in August, 2012, the Justice Department decided that the method adopted by Samsung Electronics did not fall within the technical scope of Apple.
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