This week in Other Barks & Bites: the Cloud Native Computing Foundation launches a patent troll bounty program to protect the open-source computing community; the European Patent Office announces Russia Patent Requests will be denied as part of sanctions; and Sweden becomes the first country in the world to file a trademark for its name.

Bites

EPO to Reject Russian Patent Request Due to Sanctions

On Friday, November 15, the European Patent Office (EPO) announced that as part of the latest round of European Union sanctions against Russia, the Office will refuse all requests filed by Russian nationals or companies with ties to Russia. Requests since July 10, 2024 have been stayed and will continue to be shelved thanks to the latest sanctions package.

Open-Source Company Launches Patent Troll Bounty Program

On Wednesday, November 13, the Cloud Native Computing Foundation, an open-source computing company, announced a patent troll bounty program to protect the open-source community from patent trolls. The company is hosting the program in collaboration with Unified Patents and the winner of the program will take home a $3,000 cash prize. “Patent trolls are increasingly targeting cloud native open source due to its success and broad ubiquity,” said CNCF, “Members of our community can help us disarm patent trolls by providing evidence that the invention described in the troll’s patent wasn’t actually “new” at the time the patent application was filed.”

Sweden Becomes First Country to Apply for Trademark

On Tuesday, November 12, Sweden announced that it is the first country to attempt to trademark its name in a bid to halt confusion for tourists. The country submitted a trademark application to the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) and is asking people to sign a petition to support the application. According to the press release, eight other places around the world are also called Sweden which may confuse potential tourists. “It’s flattering that other places want to be called Sweden, but we’d prefer if there was just one. Our Sweden. The one with lakes, islands, forests, and the world’s best flat-pack furniture,” said Susanne Anderson, CEO of Visit Sweden.

Court Dismisses Patent Infringement Lawsuit Against Amazon

On Friday, November 8, a Virginia district court dismissed a lawsuit accusing Amazon’s Echo and Alexa of infringing on three patents. SoundClear Technologies sued the tech giant for patent infringement, and Amazon responded by asking the court to dismiss the case. In the end, the district court ruled that the three SoundClear patents are not patentable because they only cover abstract ideas.

Barks

EU Sees 77% Increase in Detained Counterfeit Items

On Wednesday, November 13, the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) released a report that found a 77% increase in detained fake items coming into the EU. The total value of these counterfeit items was €3.4 billion, a 68% yearly increase. Italy accounted for 80% of the counterfeit articles.

CAFC Upholds Ruling That Found Lawyer Billing Patent Unpatentable

On Tuesday, November 12, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) issued a ruling that affirmed a lower court decision that found Realtime Tracker’s patent covering lawyer hour tracking unpatentable. Realtime Tracking attempted to sue LexisNexis for patent infringement with the case beginning in 2021.

Hernia Device Company Sues Medtronic for Patent Infringement

On Tuesday, November 12, Hexagon Health, a hernia medical device company, sued Medtronic for infringing on three of its hernia mesh treatment device patents. The company claimed that Medtronic knowingly infringed on the patents for the product known as Dextile. “Medtronic has a history of infringing patents and failing to honor agreements with physician-inventors, and we look forward to addressing this matter in court,” said Hexagon Health’s lawyers.

The White Stripes Drop Copyright Infringement Lawsuit Against Trump Campaign

On Monday, November 11, The White Stripes dropped their lawsuit against Donald Trump over the unauthorized use of one of their songs in a Trump campaign video, according to The Rolling Stone. Jack and Meg White dismissed the lawsuit without prejudice allowing them to refile again if they choose to. The video in question racked up 65,000 views before Jack White made a public statement asking the campaign to not use the band’s music.

This Week on Wall Street

Powell Sees Strong Economic Performance As Reason to Hold Off On Lowering Interest Rates

On Thursday, November 14, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said the U.S. economy’s performance “has been remarkably good” allowing the Fed to hold off on lowering the interest rate. Powell continued that the U.S. economy has performed better than any other major economy in the world with growth trending up in multiple categories.

SoftBank and Nvidia Announce AI Collaborations

On Tuesday, November 12, Nvidia announced a collaboration with SoftBank to make Japan’s most powerful supercomputer using Nvidia’s Blackwell platform and AI chips. Nvidia and the Japanese bank also announced several other collaborations including an AI-assisted 5G network and an AI marketplace. “Japan has a long history of pioneering technological innovations with global impact,” said Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. “With SoftBank’s significant investment in NVIDIA’s full-stack AI, Omniverse and 5G AI-RAN platforms, Japan is leaping into the AI industrial revolution to become a global leader…”

Quarterly Earnings – The following firms identified among the IPO’s Top 300 Patent Recipients for 2023 are announcing quarterly earnings next week (2023 rank in parentheses):

• Monday: None
• Tuesday: Medtronic (21)
• Wednesday: Nvidia (95), Snowflake (204)
• Thursday: Baidu (67), Deere & Company (94), Intuit (179), NetApp (272)
• Friday: None