Good afternoon. Welcome come to this week’s IP Cafe. Here’s Fino. Now let’s take a cup of coffee and enjoy the following five minutes with me.
Let’s quick browse the headlines:
· Enhancing R&D Input Key to Growth
· China Mobile to Make a Splash in VR
· Measures Give Firms More Finance Options
· Disney's Streaming Chief Mayer to Become TikTok CEO
· Fed Circuit Cancels Coca-Cola’s Patent Win over NPE
· Patent Ineligibility in Ericsson v TCL
First, there are some data relating to the science and technology development of China I would like to share with you
In a news conference on Tuesday, May 19, Minister of Science and Technology Wang Zhigang said that China has, over the past year, intensified the innovation-driven development of its science and technology sector by strengthening research and development, and accelerating the application of research results.
In 2019, China's R&D spending reached 2.17 trillion yuan ($305 billion), accounting for 2.19 percent of its GDP, significantly boosting the country's overall innovation capacity.
China ranks 14th on the 2019 Global Innovation Index and its high-speed rail technology, 5G technology and energy sector have a leading position in the world indicating that it is joining the ranks of innovation-oriented economies.
5G and VR seem to have become irreversible trends in the new era.
China Mobile, the state-owned mobile telecommunication company, has made a strong push into the virtual reality sector, with a string of measures to support development of VR content and VR hardware.
At the Fifth Global Virtual Reality Conference which concluded earlier this week, China Mobile unveiled its plan to team up with partners to help cultivate VR content in gaming, livestreaming, sports and video.
Migu, a digital content subsidiary of China Mobile, has already established copyright cooperation with more than 200 partners in quality content, and it has accumulated more than 40,000 hours of VR content.
China Mobile said it will commit more resources to assisting production of high-quality VR content, as commercialization of 5G will fuel industry growth.
The administrative committee of Guangzhou Development District, an emerging industrial center in South China's Guangdong province, has launched new measures to encourage local high-tech companies to widen their financing channels with intellectual property rights.
The measures, which took effect on May 17, will strengthen the use and protection of IP, allowing any high-tech company in the district to pledge their IP as collateral for funds from banks, small-loan companies or financial leasing companies. The companies that do so will have their assessment fees, guarantee fees and insurance fees refunded via government subsidies valued at up to 100,000 yuan ($14,070) for each item.
The government will also subsidize capital repayments and interest annually to the tune of 3 percent, capped at 1 million yuan, for no longer than a year.
Now, let's turn our attention to some international IP news.
Walt Disney Co's top streaming executive, Kevin Mayer, will leave the entertainment and theme parks giant to become the chief executive officer of TikTok, the popular video app owned by China's ByteDance Technology Co, said by the company on Monday this week.
Mayer's appointment will be effective June 1, when he will also become chief operating officer of ByteDance.
TikTok, which allows users to create short videos with special effects, has become wildly popular with US teenagers doing viral challenges that pair dances with music clips from the app's library. TikTok has hinted at ambitions to build a music streaming business, announcing in January that it was partnering with UK-based music rights agency Merlin to expand its musical selections.
ByteDance's Chinese ownership, however, has sparked concerns in Washington about TikTok's handling of personal data. The company uses sophisticated artificial intelligence to make video recommendations based on users' behavior on the app.
To appease those concerns, ByteDance has stepped up efforts to separate TikTok from much of its Chinese businesses and has made several high-profile executive hires in recent months. It appointed former Microsoft intellectual property chief Erich Andersen as global general counsel in January, after hiring Vanessa Pappas, a veteran YouTube executive, to run its US operations last year.
Coca-Cola must fight off revived claims that its Freestyle drinks dispenser infringes IP owned by a non-practising entity.
An appeals court on Monday revived a lawsuit accusing the Coca-Cola Company of infringing a patent on an internet-enabled soft drink dispenser.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit vacated a lower court ruling that Coca-Cola’s Freestyle touchscreen soda fountain did not infringe a patent owned by Rothschild Connected Devices Innovations LLC, a non-practicing entity.
The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia interpreted key terms in U.S. Patent No. 8,417,377 too narrowly when it ruled against owner Rothschild Connected Devices Innovations LLC, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit said.
The Federal Circuit clarified how lower courts should interpret a patent claim describing an apparatus “comprising” various components. The term means the apparatus “includes but is not limited to those components,” the court said.
It seems the 5-year dispute between TCL and Ericsson is about to conclude.
In a significant 35 USC §101 ruling, the Federal Circuit has held that claims relating to an Ericsson patent were ineligible subject matter under the law.
Ericsson v TCL Communication Technology Holdings began in 2015 when Ericsson filed suit alleging infringement of five patents against TCL (Case No. 18-2003, 2020 WL 1856498 [Fed Cir, Apr 14, 2020]). TCL successfully challenged four of the patents through inter parties review.
The fifth patent, US Patent No. 7,149,510, stayed in the suit. Before the district court, TCL moved for summary judgment of invalidity against the ’510 patent under 35 USC §101, asserting that its claims are patent-ineligible.
The court disagreed, holding that the claims are directed to eligible subject matter and recite an inventive concept. At trial, Ericsson asserted only claims 1 and 5 of the ’510 patent. The jury found that TCL had wilfully infringed the two claims and awarded damages, and the district court entered judgment against TCL.
Those for this week’s news. For more IP events in China, please visit www.chinaiptoday.com. See you next Friday and enjoy the nice weekend.
