WIPS took part in 1st Korea Technology Trade Expo

2012 Korea Technology Trade Expo was held last week on 12 and 13 December in Gwang-ju Kim-daejung convention center. WIPS also went Gwang-ju and set booth. 

This expo was hosted by MKE (Ministry of Knowledge Economy) and Gwang-ju city, supervised by Koita (Korea Industrial Technology Association) and Gwang-ju Techno Park. It was to give information of trading technologies. Technology transfer agreement, speeches and skill descriptions were provided to attendees and clients. 

WIPS also set booth in the event hall to consult trading technology and promote online patent search service WINTELIPS. People who were interested in trading technology and technology industrialization visited WIPS’ booth. Thank you for the supports and interests in our service

This expo was successfully ended with 40 booth and 1,000 people in technology trade industry. WIPS was very pleased to meet all the people and will be taking part again next year!

DMC Tower 18th~19th Floor, 189 Sungam-ro, Mapo-gu, Seoul, Korea

Global Tel: +82-2-726-1104, 1130 | Fax: +82-2-777-7334 | global@wips.co.kr

Japan Tel: +82-2-726-1113, 1107 | Fax: +82-2-777-7334 | wips-jp@wips.co.kr

China, Taiwan Tel: +82-2-726-1038, 1130 | Fax: +82-2-777-7334 | global@wips.co.kr 

WIPS Global Advanced FAQ : Patent Data Base ②

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For more convenient and easy to use our IP search service WIPS Global Advanced, users will need some help! Here are some frequently asked questions about how to manage users' account information. 

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Q. What is WIPS family?

Patent system is based on the territorial principle. To receive rights from each country, applicants must apply in each country and receive patent. If the applicant applies in one country for identical technical content, the patent/granted information or press release which is printed in the country based on the priority right of application in first country are called a family.

Q. DOCDB and Basic Patent in WIPS family

• DOCDB (Document Database)

DOCDB is the EPO master documentation database with worldwide coverage containing bibliographic data, abstracts, and citations (but no full text or images). Bibliographic data from over 90 countries is available.

• Basic Patent

For a specific technology, the patent that was applied first in a country is called Basic Patent. Hence, the priority right is not applicable for Basic Patent.

Q. Definition of WIPS standardized applicant

• Standardized Applicant (Code) - It targets an individual with more than 50 applications or a corporate applicant.

• KR Standardized Applicant (Code) - It targets Korean corporate applicant which has more than 50 Korean patents and utility model application documents

Users can view the update date for representative applicants in Help Center> User Guide> Data Coverage.

DMC Tower 18th~19th Floor, 189 Sungam-ro, Mapo-gu, Seoul, Korea

Global Tel: +82-2-726-1104, 1130 | Fax: +82-2-777-7334 | global@wips.co.kr

Japan Tel: +82-2-726-1113, 1107 | Fax: +82-2-777-7334 | wips-jp@wips.co.kr

China, Taiwan Tel: +82-2-726-1038, 1130 | Fax: +82-2-777-7334 | global@wips.co.kr 

Korea’s top Mobile App ‘Ani-PANG’ has Trademark Dispute

▲ Ani-PANG on Google Play

‘Ani-PANG THE PUZZLE’ by Sundaytoz was one of famous mobile game apps in Korea for its addictive rules. Sundaytoz was planning to expand the business with the name ‘ani-pang’, but they found Goodnjoy, a publishing company, already applied for it as trademark in 2004. Sundaytoz requested a trademark revocation trial.

▲kipris.or.kr

▲kipris.or.kr

Goodnjoy gave a trademark infringement warning as soon as they received the request for revocation trial from Sundaytoz. They claim that they didn’t hold the expanded business for a while, but will publish instructional books with ‘ani-pang’ animation. 

The experts said it is depends on how Goodnjoy proves their application history of ‘ani-pang’. If Goodnjoy wins for the right to use ‘ani-pang’ as trademark, Sundaytoz will have some complicated situation such as negotiation for settlement or indemnification for damage. 

DMC Tower 18th~19th Floor, 189 Sungam-ro, Mapo-gu, Seoul, Korea

Global Tel: +82-2-726-1104, 1130 | Fax: +82-2-777-7334 | global@wips.co.kr

Japan Tel: +82-2-726-1113, 1107 | Fax: +82-2-777-7334 | wips-jp@wips.co.kr

China, Taiwan Tel: +82-2-726-1038, 1130 | Fax: +82-2-777-7334 | global@wips.co.kr 

Creative Interior Ideas for Bathroom

▲ yankodesign.com

We all have exhaust fans in bathroom and it looks all same. This Exhaust fan design makes bathrooms clean, neat and modern. It completely disappears when not in use, and pops up on the outside when we need it!
Designer: Michael Samoriz

▲yankodesign.com

When you use towel after wash your hands, it feels really bad if the towel is wet. The towel should be always dried and cleaned, and this design is perfect for these problems. Tower Hanger, designed by Kim Jin Yeoung, dries with heated wind from inner fan, and keeps tidy with ultraviolet razes. All we have to do is just hanging the tower on the bar.

Designer: Kim Jin Yeong

DMC Tower 18th~19th Floor, 189 Sungam-ro, Mapo-gu, Seoul, Korea

Global Tel: +82-2-726-1104, 1130 | Fax: +82-2-777-7334 | global@wips.co.kr

Japan Tel: +82-2-726-1113, 1107 | Fax: +82-2-777-7334 | wips-jp@wips.co.kr

China, Taiwan Tel: +82-2-726-1038, 1130 | Fax: +82-2-777-7334 | global@wips.co.kr  

Nokia and RIM settle new patent license agreement

nokia.com

Nokia and Research in Motion (RIM) have settled their patent disputes and agreed to a new deal to end patent infringement litigation between them, Nokia announced. RIM agreed to make a payment to settle the cases and will give Nokia "ongoing payments" for using its patents.

RIM.com

"We are very pleased to have resolved our patent licensing issues with RIM and reached this new agreement, while maintaining Nokia's ability to protect our unique product differentiation," said Paul Melin, chief intellectual property officer at Nokia, Nokia Press added. "This agreement demonstrates Nokia's industry leading patent portfolio and enables us to focus on further licensing opportunities in the mobile communications market."

Theglobeandmail.com also reported that Nokia has earned around €500-million for patent royalty, and some analysts predict that Nokia could earn hundreds of millions more if they have more successful deals. 

DMC Tower 18th~19th Floor, 189 Sungam-ro, Mapo-gu, Seoul, Korea

Global Tel: +82-2-726-1104, 1130 | Fax: +82-2-777-7334 | global@wips.co.kr

Japan Tel: +82-2-726-1113, 1107 | Fax: +82-2-777-7334 | wips-jp@wips.co.kr

China, Taiwan Tel: +82-2-726-1038, 1130 | Fax: +82-2-777-7334 | global@wips.co.kr 

Kraftwerk Won 12-Year Copyright Battle 'Metal On Metal'

flick.com | by Andy Miah | 

An electronic-pop group from Germany, Kraftwerk, has won a long copyright battle relating to a sampling of their 1977 song ‘Metall an Metall’, huffingtonpost.co.uk reported. 

Kraftwerk filed suit against rap producers Moses Pelham and Martin Haas in 2000. They alleged that the song ‘Nur Mir’ performed by Sabrina Setlur was used an uncleared samples. But the criterion of its decision may has some issues. As Udo Kornmeier, lawyer for Pelham and Haas, said “How can you be sure that the artist has succeeded before the work has been released to the consumer?”, thestoolpigeon.co.uk wrote.  

Kraftwerk was one of the first groups to popularize electronic music and they were formed in 1970. In the 1970s and early 1980s, Kraftwerk's unique sound was innovative, and has had a lasting effect across many genres of modern music.

  

DMC Tower 18th~19th Floor, 189 Sungam-ro, Mapo-gu, Seoul, Korea

Global Tel: +82-2-726-1104, 1130 | Fax: +82-2-777-7334 | global@wips.co.kr

Japan Tel: +82-2-726-1113, 1107 | Fax: +82-2-777-7334 | wips-jp@wips.co.kr

China, Taiwan Tel: +82-2-726-1038, 1130 | Fax: +82-2-777-7334 | global@wips.co.kr 

Creative, Beautiful and Useful Inventions

▲ Zero Point Ruler on yankodesign.com

This creative invention is named ‘0 Point Ruler’. The 0 point can be adjusted when users draw a line. The 0 point automatically goes to the point where the pencil touches the ruler. Its top side is made of pressure-sensing touch screen, so the ruler can senses the pressure where the pencil touches. It needs electricity to be operated, and the circle hole is for charging electricity. Insert pencil or finger into the hole and swirl it! Then the o point ruler will be ready to use!

▲ Water Block on cloudand.co.kr

This beautiful water bottle ‘Water Block’ was awarded the grand prize winner at the Jeju Premium Water Bottle Design Competition in 2012. It is inspired by Jeju (Korea’s largest island) nature and charm, and the fresh water of Jeju is applied to a block-shaped bottle.

    

▲ Food Filter on yankodesign.com 

It is always difficult to separate water and solid ingredients when you cook.

Food Filter is made of silica gel which is flexible to fit every shape of pots and pans. Set it in the edge of the pot and simply pour out the liquid. The solid food will be easily separated from liquid!  

DMC Tower 18th~19th Floor, 189 Sungam-ro, Mapo-gu, Seoul, Korea

Global Tel: +82-2-726-1104, 1130 | Fax: +82-2-777-7334 | global@wips.co.kr

Japan Tel: +82-2-726-1113, 1107 | Fax: +82-2-777-7334 | wips-jp@wips.co.kr

China, Taiwan Tel: +82-2-726-1038, 1130 | Fax: +82-2-777-7334 | global@wips.co.kr 

Korea Patent Online Service, WIPS Video on Youtube!

WIPS is Korea's first company to offer on-line worldwide patent information service. Since starting the business in 1999, the service is being used by over 3,000 companies, patent law firms, academics, governments, and R&D centers including top Korean global companies and multinationals. With over 100,000 users worldwide, WIPS has kept the number 1 spot in Korea with largest market share for over 12 yrs term. In 2011, WIPS achieved 62% market share.

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*Special Features of WIPS Global Advanced* 
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DMC Tower 18th~19th Floor, 189 Sungam-ro, Mapo-gu, Seoul, Korea

Global Tel: +82-2-726-1104, 1130 | Fax: +82-2-777-7334 | global@wips.co.kr

Japan Tel: +82-2-726-1113, 1107 | Fax: +82-2-777-7334 | wips-jp@wips.co.kr

China, Taiwan Tel: +82-2-726-1038, 1130 | Fax: +82-2-777-7334 | global@wips.co.kr 

Kodak Announces Sale of Patents to Apple, Google and more

flickr.com | by DragonFlyEye  | 

Apple, Google and other companies are offering Eastman Kodak about $525 million for its imaging patents, Kodak announced.  Under the agreements, Kodak receives $525 million, and it will be paid by 12 intellectual property licensees organized by Intellectual Ventures and RPX Corporation.

This group including 12 companies ( Facebook Inc. (FB), Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) and Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), Samsung Electronics Co., Adobe Systems Inc. (ADBE), Fujifilm Holdings Corp. (4901), Huawei Technologies Co., HTC Corp. (2498) and Shutterfly Inc. (SFLY)) will license the patents in the deal, according to the court filing, Bloomberg reported.

Eastman Kodak, the 131-year-old film company, founded in 1880 by George Eastman and filed for bankruptcy protection last January, nytimes.com wrote. It became one of remarkable companies in US, helping establish the camera film market and dominating the field. 

DMC Tower 18th~19th Floor, 189 Sungam-ro, Mapo-gu, Seoul, Korea

Global Tel: +82-2-726-1104, 1130 | Fax: +82-2-777-7334 | global@wips.co.kr

Japan Tel: +82-2-726-1113, 1107 | Fax: +82-2-777-7334 | wips-jp@wips.co.kr

China, Taiwan Tel: +82-2-726-1038, 1130 | Fax: +82-2-777-7334 | global@wips.co.kr 

Korean Mobile SNS App 'Band' Got Patent Infringement Suit

▲ Band

Last Sunday, on 16^th December, one of social network application named ‘Band’ by NHN has been disputed. Band is a mobile social network service launched in August, people share their news and photos with who are invited as a member of the group. It is a new and advanced concept of mobiled community service.

With these convenient features, Korea National Open University and NHN had a business agreement to use of Band as a communication channel between professors and students. It is also useful to organize groups and make plans between lots of people.

But NHN has disputed by UDID, a mobile application development company last 16th. UDID claims that they already have filed patent of ‘Method and Recording Medium of setup the relationship based on group for Social Network Service’ last August.

▲ UDID patent on WGA

This is 'Business Method Patent'. BM patent is a class of patents which disclose and claim new methods of doing business and it became important assets for both independent inventors and major corporations.

BM Patent had some issues because of its vague range of judgement, it is hard to predict the outcome of UDID’s patent infringement suit against NHN.    

DMC Tower 18th~19th Floor, 189 Sungam-ro, Mapo-gu, Seoul, Korea

Global Tel: +82-2-726-1104, 1130 | Fax: +82-2-777-7334 | global@wips.co.kr

Japan Tel: +82-2-726-1113, 1107 | Fax: +82-2-777-7334 | wips-jp@wips.co.kr

China, Taiwan Tel: +82-2-726-1038, 1130 | Fax: +82-2-777-7334 | global@wips.co.kr 

WIPS Global Advanced FAQ : Patent Data Base ①

WIPS Global Advanced

For more convenient and easy to use our IP search service WIPS Global Advanced, users will need some help! Here are some frequently asked questions about how to manage users' account information. 

If you are not registered yet, try Free Trial membership

Q. Searching Japanese patent or Korean patent in its native language

Only English keywords can be searched in WIPS Global ADVANCED. 
Japanese or Korean patents cannot be searched in Japanese or in Korean. For Keywords search, WIPS recommends to use PAJ or KPA. For the other non-Keywords including number, date, IPC and types of documents, the search can be done in Japanese or Korean. Users can select both PAJ and JP, KPA and DB of KR.

Q. Reference from Description 

'Reference from Description' refers to citation information that is indicated in document description statement.  Provided DB: US, EP, JP, KR

DMC Tower 18th~19th Floor, 189 Sungam-ro, Mapo-gu, Seoul, Korea

Global Tel: +82-2-726-1104, 1130 | Fax: +82-2-777-7334 | global@wips.co.kr

Japan Tel: +82-2-726-1113, 1107 | Fax: +82-2-777-7334 | wips-jp@wips.co.kr

China, Taiwan Tel: +82-2-726-1038, 1130 | Fax: +82-2-777-7334 | global@wips.co.kr  

Liverpool FC Wins to Keep ‘Liver Bird’ Trademark

▲ liver bird on Wikipedia

Despite the opposition from city residents, Liverpool FC have won the right to continue using the name ‘Liver bird', liverpoolecho.com announced.

Alfie Hincks, a former City councillor from Fazakerly, applied to revoke the decision and submitted lots of evidences the bird has been a symbol of Liverpool for a long time. He disappointed with the judgement and commented to the liverpoolecho.com :

flickr.com | by Waywardeffort

“I was absolutely convinced that with the amount of evidence we had sent in and the amount of information they had we would persuade them it was a symbol of our city.”

He will continue his battle and uncover more evidences to support his claim with the great-grandson of Carl Bartels, the German architect who designed the birds. 

“If anyone should be allowed to have this trademark it should be the family, but Mr.Bartels designed the bird for the city of Liverpool.”,
he added. Read more about this trademark case here.

DMC Tower 18th~19th Floor, 189 Sungam-ro, Mapo-gu, Seoul, Korea

Global Tel: +82-2-726-1104, 1130 | Fax: +82-2-777-7334 | global@wips.co.kr

Japan Tel: +82-2-726-1113, 1107 | Fax: +82-2-777-7334 | wips-jp@wips.co.kr

China, Taiwan Tel: +82-2-726-1038, 1130 | Fax: +82-2-777-7334 | global@wips.co.k

China became Top Patent Filer in the World in 2011

▲ english.sipo.gov.cn

China's State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) has become the world’s top patent filer in 2011.

SIPO overtook the USPTO last year, and became the largest office in the world. SIPO already passed Japan Patent Office (JPO) in 2010, WIPO.int reported.  

WIPO also added the growth rates of patent filings worldwide. SIPO grew by 7.8%, exceeding 7% growth for the second year in a row. More rates and statistics are here (World Intellectual Property Indicators 2012).

“Sustained growth in IP filings indicates that companies continue to innovate despite weak economic conditions. This is good news, as it lays the foundation for the world economy to generate growth and prosperity in the future,” 

said World Intellectual Property Organization Director General Francis Gurry to WIPO.

DMC Tower 18th~19th Floor, 189 Sungam-ro, Mapo-gu, Seoul, Korea

Global Tel: +82-2-726-1104, 1130 | Fax: +82-2-777-7334 | global@wips.co.kr

Japan Tel: +82-2-726-1113, 1107 | Fax: +82-2-777-7334 | wips-jp@wips.co.kr

China, Taiwan Tel: +82-2-726-1038, 1130 | Fax: +82-2-777-7334 | global@wips.co.kr     

Apple's 'Leaf' Design Trademark logo in Europe

▲Apple's filing for the "leaf" of its logo
source : theregister.co.uk

On 3 December, Apple has filed a trademark application for the leaf on its logo in Europe. 
The Resister wrote that the trademark application covers 10 international classes of products. The 10 International classes includes computers, jewelry, educational material, footwear, film streaming services and paper packaging for audio tapes. 

source : edibleapple.com

See Apple’s full international class details here on patentlyapple.com. 

If Apple gets the trademark the leaf shape, it would be more patent suits in the future as always Apple does. 

The very first Apple’s logo was Isaac Newton sitting under a tree with an apple. It was a lot complicated drawing, and classic. Apple used this logo in 1976, and changed to a modern version of apple with rainbow colors on it. Read more about Apple’s logo history here.

DMC Tower 18th~19th Floor, 189 Sungam-ro, Mapo-gu, Seoul, Korea

Global Tel: +82-2-726-1104, 1130 | Fax: +82-2-777-7334 | global@wips.co.kr

Japan Tel: +82-2-726-1113, 1107 | Fax: +82-2-777-7334 | wips-jp@wips.co.kr

China, Taiwan Tel: +82-2-726-1038, 1130 | Fax: +82-2-777-7334 | global@wips.co.kr