IDEA Intellectual Limited

29/03/2024

Company activity - Lipstick making
Thanks 義涵導師for hosting such a great lesson.

26/01/2024

Thanks JETRO Hong Kong for inviting us to speak in the seminar about IP and US export control.

28/07/2023

IDEA Intellectual’s company event - Aromatherapy workshop.
Thanks Ms. Yi Hane from YL for the great presentation and guiding us to make the 皮膚萬用膏 and essential oils to soothe our eye/pressure/sleep problems.

07/07/2023

Thanks Lee and Li for inviting our US patent attorney Sam Yip and German attorney Joerg Sosna to present in the seminar about US Export Control. Some of the Taiwanese technology companies were put in the entity list by the US government recently. Export Control is a hot topic which technology companies must know.

07/07/2023

Thanks Lee and Li for inviting our US patent attorney Sam Yip and German attorney Joerg Sosna to present in the seminar about US Export Control. Some of the Taiwanese technology companies were put in the entity list by the US government recently. Export Control is a hot topic which technology companies must know.

20/05/2023

Ella Cheong’s Reception at Chijmes

17/05/2023

It is a super hot today.
Singapore

16/05/2023

E.M. Hwang’s Reception in Hard Rock Cafe.
What a successful event!!
Thanks Sung-pil for inviting us.

16/05/2023

E.M. Hwang’s Reception in Hard Rock Cafe.
What a successful event!!
Thanks Sung-pil for inviting us.

07/09/2022

Client visit in Monaco. Need I say more? Just look at this magnificent city neighboring the French Riveira.

18/07/2022

Recognizing that applicants have a wait time as long as 18 months from filing to receive a first office action, the USPTO has announced another pilot program to accelerate examination procedure, this time for applications that can claim an invention directed to a technology that reduces greenhouse gases.

Under the Climate Change Mitigation Pilot Program, qualifying applications will be advanced out of turn for examination until a first action on the merits is complete. The USPTO will accept petitions to make special until June 5, 2023, or until 1,000 applications have been granted special status under this program, whichever occurs earlier. The program is part of Executive Order 14008, dated January 27, 2021, which directs the U.S. government to take major action to address the growing crisis of climate change.

Interestingly, the pilot program does not entail patent applications claiming the actual process in question reduces greenhouse gases; instead, it only requires that qualifying applications claim an invention directed to a technology that reduces greenhouse gases. There can be qualifying inventions with proximal cause that do not directly reduce greenhouse gas emissions but do form an important step in a manufacturing chain that does reduce greenhouse gas emission in the end. The program requirements also raise the question whether functional language in the claim is enough to let it be deemed directed to a technology for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Applicants should use Form PTO/SB/457, filed electronically using Patent Center, to request consideration in the Climate Change Mitigation Pilot Program. For the full list of steps to apply, see https://www.uspto.gov/patents/laws/patent-related-notices/climate-change-mitigation-pilot-program.

Qualifying applications involving greenhouse gas reduction technologies are advanced out of turn for examination. Program is open until the earlier of June 5, 2023 or until 1000 petitions are granted.

08/07/2022

On Wednesday, the USPTO announced a joint initiative with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to reduce drug prices and encourage competition. The new undertaking, a response to President Biden’s Executive Order 14036 on “Promoting Competition in the American Economy” that was issued one year ago, will curb certain practices that pharmaceutical companies engage in.

Last year, the FDA stated it was especially concerned that some “uses of the patent system” let companies delay the introduction of generic and biosimilar drugs. For example, continuation patent practices, “which may allow the filer to obtain follow-on patents directed to inventions disclosed in earlier patents,” creating “patent thickets,” “product-hopping,” and the practice of “evergreening,” in which patents are obtained on “‘post-approval’ or ‘secondary’ changes to previously approved drug products such as new formulations of the same drug, new delivery systems, or patents claiming various additional methods of use.” The FDA cited one study that found “78 percent of the drug products for which new patents were listed in the Orange Book from 2005-2015 were existing drug products, not new drugs entering the market.”

In response, the USPTO announced five broad changes that will “strengthen our patent system for all technologies.” It will work to improve public participation, for example by adding public interest representatives to the Patent Public Advisory Committee. In addition, it will strengthen its collaboration with the FDA and other fellow federal agencies by providing them with resources and providing examiners with training on FDA assets that can be utilized in searches.

Most importantly, the USPTO will evaluate proposals for ways to minimize the delay of generics and biosimilar drugs, while still “incentivizing and protecting the investment essential for bringing life-saving and life-altering drugs to market.” It will also “improve procedures for obtaining a patent so that the USPTO issues robust and reliable patents,” which includes introducing more examination time into the examination system, considering whether changes should be made to reduce the effects of obviousness-type double patenting practices, and reviewing other countries’ practices of examining and issuing pharma and bio patents in order to identify ways to strengthen the U.S. system.