[International IP Briefing] KR, US

 

KR

LG Electronics, Korea wins LTE standard essential patent (SEPs) infringement lawsuit against TCL, China.

▲ lge.co.kr

On Mar. 9, 2021, LG Electronics announced that they had won a patent infringement lawsuit against TCL, a Chinese electronics company.

In Nov. 2019, the Mannheim District Court in Germany ruled that TCL used LG Electronics patents without permission at the infringement lawsuit filed by LG Electronics against TCL. The key point in this lawsuit is that some technologies applied to feature phones and smartphones sold by TCL infringed on LG Electronics ''LTE standard essential patent”.

▲ clipartkorea.co.kr

This result is for one out of total three patent infringement lawsuits filed by LG Electronics, and the remaining two trials are scheduled to take place in March and May, respectively.

Based on this ruling, LG Electronics will prevent TCL from selling mobile phones that applied LG Electronics' LTE communication standard essential patent in Germany.

Original source of this post,

https://www.kiip.re.kr/board/trend/view.do?bd_gb=trend&bd_cd=1&bd_item=0&po_item_gb=&currentPage=2&po_no=20271

 

US

Apple, filed AR Smart Ring Patent

Major foreign media including Phone Arena announced on the 11th (local time) that Apple has filed for a patent for a “ring” accessory that can operate virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) devices.

▲ wipsglobal.com> US 16/934988
titled "Self-Mixing Interferometry-Based Gesture Input System Including a Wearable or Handheld Device"

According to the patent, the ring works based on a “self-mixing interferometer (SMI)” sensor.

The SMI sensor optically measures the motion between the sensor and the object using triangular wave form. A ring equipped with an SMI sensor can analyze the movement of the wearer and determine the relationship with surrounding objects.

▲ wipsglobal.com> US 16/934988
titled "Self-Mixing Interferometry-Based Gesture Input System Including a Wearable or Handheld Device"

How about putting on two rings? The patent asserted that the more sensors there are, the more 'accurately grasping various movements in a complete three-dimensional environment'. Wearing it on your thumb and index finger, you can also identify gesture such as pinching, zooming in and out, and rotating with two fingers.

▲ wipsglobal.com> US 16/934988
titled "Self-Mixing Interferometry-Based Gesture Input System Including a Wearable or Handheld Device"

An example of using it with other devices was 'Apple Pencil'. The ring provides additional functions by recognizing the location and motion of the Apple Pencil in detail.

Original source of this post,

https://www.etnews.com/20210312000202

Smart alert service to monitor technological changes, SDI

 

Following the ‘My Folder’ from the last issue, let’s look at another personalized feature, ‘SDI’ in this issue.

'SDI' is Selective Dissemination of Information, which means simply a ‘Notification service on newly updated patents.' It is an alert feature that provides notification via e-mail whenever patent documents or information of the items requested by the user are updated. By using the SDI, not only you receive the updates but also can easily understand the flow and changes of technology you’re watching. Checking out the technological changes of competitors can be very important information in establishing your company's patent strategy. 

The SDI of WIPS Global provides various items such as monitoring competitors, status information, and Trial/Appeal and so forth. Let’s look at one by one from now on.

▲ wipsglobal.com> View Detail

SDI can simply be requested in the search box or within the View Detail page during review as above screenshot but today, we are going to find out how to request directly in the SDI page.

▲ wipsglobal.com> SDI manager

The available types of SDI are listed at the top of the page.

. Competitor SDI, which can monitor competitors' technologies and R&D

. Status SDI, which is to know the change of status information,

. Appeal SDI, which is Trial/Appeal information,

. Query SDI, which is the updated patent information corresponding to the saved search query,

. Family SDI and Citation SDI, which is the updated information about changes in the patent family and citation relationship of a specific document.

▲ wipsglobal.com> SDI manager

By checking which field of patents a competitor is filing or purchasing, you can find out the main technology field or the direction of R&D of your competitor.

Competitor SDI is provided based on specific applicants/right holders, and can be notified of the patent application trends and rights changes of competitors that need to be monitored according to the cycle set by the user.

The updated contents are notified based on the requested applicant, so you can know the entire patent status of the competitor.

▲ wipsglobal.com> SDI manager> Competitor SDI

(1) You can request by selecting Assignment info, which is the information on change of rights, or Patent gazette (publication/registration). If you select Patent gazette, you can grasp the details of which field of technology or product a competitor has applied for. (2) Select Publication or Granted from the Selected gazette, (3) select Assignee and Target Country (4) select the Technical Classification Code, and you will receive a notification by e-mail when new public information is updated according to the set Frequency.

▲ wipsglobal.com> My SDI> Competitor SDI's update

SDI update on Assignment information of the applicant (A) and Patent Gazette information in detail (B)

▲ wipsglobal.com> SDI manager> Status SDI, Appeal SDI

In terms of securing the rights to new technologies, it is very important to figure out the status of competitors' flagship patents, including whether or not the company's technology has been patented. In the case of similar inventions, if the cause of the rejection of application is quickly identified, it is possible to design around against the technology, and easily find the available alternative technologies using information on rights expiry.

 Status SDI sends the notification e-mail when there is a change in the status of the document after filing due to a decision of rejection, confirmation of a decision of rejection, change of registration status, lapse of registration rights, etc.. You can’t miss the major events from the application of the patent to rights expiry.

 Appeal SDI sends the notification email when all types of trials occurred for the requested patents, such as trial on invalidity, trial to confirm scope of rights, (defensive and positive), and trial to invalidate corrections.

▲ wipsglobal.com> My SDI> Appeal SDI's update

SDI update on Trial/Appeal information in MY SDI

▲ wipsglobal.com> SDI manager> Query SDI

Query SDI that you can receive newly updated patent document corresponding to the search query saved by the user.

For reference, if you use the original language for the applicant's name, you can receive notifications without delay due to data update.

▲ wipsglobal.com> My SDI> Query SDI's update

SDI update on Query in MY SDI

▲ wipsglobal.com> SDI manager> Family SDI, Citation SDI

Family SDI notifies when the new documents are updated in the patent family relationship of the requested patent..

Citation SDI notifies when the requested patent is cited in another application.

Family/ Citation SDI can be used to attack competitors' overseas patent activities or to establish defense strategies for their own patents.

▲ wipsglobal.com> My SDI> all types of SDI

My SDI in which you can check the updated status of all types of SDI in detail.

. Deleted SDI keeps the deleted SDI histories up to 50 weeks before it completely deleted.

. Group users can share SDI with other users in the group.

▲ wipsglobal.com> main page

 

  ◀ SDI is accessed on the main page of the        WIPS  Global

So far, we have looked in detail how to request and check for each type of SDI.

Try the SDI of WIPS Global and get ideas for patent strategy.

Using patent information for technology management

 

We can see companies that once led the market often neglect the potential of new technologies and fell behind in the marketplace. Nokia once held an overwhelming advantage in the mobile phone sector with a market share of over 40%, but failed to keep up with new technological changes and fell behind in the market. It's not just Nokia. Since then, companies have begun to react sensitively to the trend of technological change, and it has been an opportunity to significantly increase R&D costs.

As more money invested in R&D, technology management for R&D products has also become more important. Companies use patents that contain technology information to manage technology. The patent was chosen not only because it contains technological information, but also it can be said as objective information because it is examined by the patent office. This time, we will look at strategic technology management using patent information.

Competitor monitoring and technology assessment

A company's patent activity can be seen as an indication of what technology a company is interested in. So, by following the information, you can predict the final goal of the company. And based on the value of patents, you can see the technology share that tells the company's competitive position, and through the share, you can see the technology they have in the market. Therefore, if a company's technology share drops significantly, it means that their technology is at stake, so the R&D strategy needs to be modified.

The patent value can be evaluated in the following way.

(1) Ratio of granted of filed patents

(2) International scope

(3) Technical scope

(4) Citation frequency

This criterion is aligned with a commercial point of view, that is, the company's sales and profits are related to the value of the patent.

▲ clipartkorea.co.kr

Patent portfolios

One of the most important decisions to be made in technology management is the investment of R&D resources; senior management must decide how much of the R&D resources will be spent on which type of technology. To make this decision-making process easier, we start using technology portfolio. Portfolios have the advantage of structuring and visualizing complex problems while focusing on most relevant decision-making criteria. However, it was created based on the subjective evaluation of the managers, and information was insufficient. Patent information has been added to the portfolio to compensate for this problem. The patent portfolio was also important when making decisions inside the company, but it can also be used when reviewing M&As or licenses due to its high applicability in competitor analysis.

▲ clipartkorea.co.kr

Identification and assessment of M&A options

The reason for M&A is to gain access to technological knowledge, which is of long-term strategic interest to the company.  Due to the risk of R&D and limited resources in the high-tech field, there is a limit to developing technology by the organization itself. To compensate for this limitation, M&A is used to secure a continuous competitive advantage of technology. An important success factor for technology-driven M&As are the selection of the most appropriate M&A target and the target’s subsequent into the organization is to proceed with M&A with the most appropriate target. If patent information is required when selecting the target, the selection decision will be more reliable.

▲ clipartkorea.co.kr

Human resource management

Patent information can also determine how good an inventor is. The inventor of the patented technology is also evaluated in accordance with the patent evaluation. The inventor portfolio distinguishes four types of inventors in accordance with patent activities and quality. Most inventors are low performers with low quality and patent activities. Key inventors with high patent activity and high quality account for 6.9% of the total inventors. However, it is said that key inventors' patenting output may achieve a maximum of 80%. Therefore, the company must identify key inventors in advance and make continuous efforts to continuously produce patents.

▲ Four types of inventor

This post is excerpted from "Patent Information for strategic technology management" by Holger Ernst