Brain League - News Letter May 2007

Seminar on Intellectual Property in Software - A Modular Analysis, June 15th, 2007. For details contact us at contact@brainleague.com or 080-41489502

ISSUE : MAY 2007

PRESS ROOM

US Supreme Court rejects TSM test for non-obviousness

The US Supreme Court has recently struck down the Teaching-Suggestion-Motivation (TSM) test for determining non-obviousness of an invention. The case relates to a patent infringement suit involving an invention relating to an “Adjustable Pedal Assembly With Elec-tronic Throttle Control.” Teleflex filed a suit against KSR alleging that KSR's products infringed its patent. KSR counter claimed that it was not liable as the invention was obvious makeing the patent invalid. The Court of Appeal for Federal Circuit (CAFC) had held the invention to be non-obvious as the particular way in which the invention was made was not taught, motivated or suggested by the prior art. The US Supreme Court reversed the decision of CAFC and held that theTSM test followed by CAFC was not in consonance with the precedants of the Supreme Court for determining non-obviousness.

Amazon and IBM settle

In 2006, IBM filed a patent suit against Amazon alleging that Amazon's web operations infringed IBM's patents. Amazon countersued alleging that IBM's webSphere application server and other applications infringed Amazon's patents. The companies have settled the patent infringement suits by entering into a patent cross-license agreement. Under the agreement, both parties have agreed to share their patents for future operations. Amazon also agreed to pay a certain amount of money to IBM as a part of the deal. Both parties are confident that the agreement is mutually beneficial.

Indian Government to prevent IP on Yoga

Indian government has decided to include ancient yoga postures and related literature in the Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL). One of the primary objectives of TKDL is to prevent people from getting patent protection over Indian traditional knowledge. The knowledge relating to 'Yoga' has been a part of Indian culture and heritage and is open to the general public. The inclusion of 'Yoga' related information in TKDL would go a long way in preventing people from acquiring IP protection over yoga postures or asanas.

Microsoft alleges patent infringement by Open Source Software

Microsoft has recently alleged that Open Source Software and Free Software violates 235 of its patents. It claims that 42 patents are violated by Linux, 65 by Linux's Graphical User Interface, 45 by Open Office and so on. It is believed that Microsoft would go after Open Source Software based businesses like Red Hat and so on in order to force them to enter into license agreements with Microsoft. A few members of the Open Source Software community believe that Microsoft's allegations are baseless and unfounded. This could potentially be the biggest controversy relating to Open Source Software.

Dr. Reddy's held liable for infringing Eisai's patent relating to Rabeprazole sodium

Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Ltd. has been held liable for infringing a patent of Eisai relating to Rabeprazole sodium sold as Aciphex for suppressing acid production in the cells of the stomach lining. In 2003, Dr. Reddy's and Teva Pharmaceuticals filed an Abbreviated New Drug Application before the US Food and Drug Administration seeking approval to market a generic rabeprazole product before the expiration of the patent. In response, Eisai filed a patent infringement suit against Dr. Reddy's and Teva Pharmaceuticals, who claimed that the patent was not enforceable because of inequitable conduct of Eisai before the USPTO. The United States District Court, S.D. New York, recently rejected their contention making Dr. Reddy's and Teva Pharmaceuticals liable for patent infringement.

	May 07 Edition
	Press Room
	Patent Grants
	Case Study
	At Brain League
	OSS Series