This is a translation of an Official Notice from the Israel Patent Office. From the initial corona epidemic outbreak, the ILPO has been functioning under its regular framework (with majority of its employees working from home). On March 21st, 2020 the Israeli government approved an Emergency Regulation (expansion of the agreement of vacation leave for the public sector due to the new Corona virus) 2020-5780 and the Emergency Regulation (limiting the amount of employees in the workplace in order to minimize the spread of the new Corona virus) 2020-5780 (page 820, ordinance booklet 8405, 2 ..read more

Section 104 of the Israel Patent Law states: The Minister may permit the exploitation of an invention by Government departments or by an enterprise or agency of the State, whether a patent for it has or has not already been granted or has or has not already been applied for, if he finds that that is necessary in the interests of the National security or of the maintenance of essential supplies and services. There are corresponding laws in other jurisdictions. Israel has never invoked this law, but is planning to import a generic version of Kaletra to treat COVID-19. Abbvie developed this drug ..read more

Unfortunately due to the Corona virus preventing both international travel to Israel and prohibitions against congregating, the highly regarded Best Practices in Intellectual Property Conference scheduled for March 23rd & 24th, 2020 has bee postponed. The conference will take place on June 23, 2020 assuming things are back to normal, or will be rescheduled for the autumn. The Israel Patent Office is, however, open, and there have been no announcements that deadlines are being extended. However, there is no reception of the public, and there are no face-to-face meetings with Examiners. Neve ..read more

It is often overlooked that patents create the kind of monopoly of the type that anti-trust laws are there to protect the public from. Sometimes this results in compulsory licensing, or non-discriminatory licensing agreements. The 2020 Best Practices in Intellectual Property conference organized by Kim Lindy of Intellectual Property Resources, and held at the Sheraton Hotel, Tel Aviv, is hosting both the Director of the USPTO and the Assistant Attorney General of the US Justice Department as keynote speakers. This will provide the Israeli audience and the increasing numbers of overseas practi ..read more

Cal Auto Financing 1998 ltd provides car leasing and rental services. The firm applied for a trademark for CARBAY. Their CarBay logo is shown alongside. The trademark is, however, for the word mark and covers providing business and marketing data via a website, providing consumer data regarding products and services via an Internet site, advertising on the Internet, business management, marketing communications, advertising vehicles for sale over the internet, selling vehicles over the internet and towing vehicles, all such services being computerized or Internet enabled. Ebay, which has trade ..read more

Alexander Stern of Netanya filed and prosecuted Israel Patent Application No. IL 196915 titled “Lotto Game”. He wasn’t professionally represented. The basis of the invention was that cards can be individual cards, part of a suite, or part of a set of cards having the same number. When drawing the 52 cards from a pack, they can fall into any of the above variations, and these can be betted on. The main claim is: A method for playing lotto game based on use of a particular feature of playing cards, such that each single card is a combination of a value of card and a suit, said method comprises ..read more

Marom F.G.P. ltd filed an industrial design application in Israel for a pouch of the type typically referred to as the bumbag or fanny pack. The product was photographed from all angles and is shown here. The Examiner rejected the application claiming that it was not new and did not have a distinctive feature as required by Section 3 of the Israel Design Law 2017. The prior art cited included a product advertised on Ali Express and one advertised on Facebook. The Applicant responded that the Internet publications were not clearly dated and so were not to be considered as Internet publicati ..read more

Maisa Sosha filed an Israel trademark application on 1/2/2018 for Bee Creative with a stylized bee, for graphic design services, #branding and #socialmedia & #advertising services in Class 42, requesting immediate examination. The mark was allowed the same day and published for opposition purposes. Ms Revital Gabai Siboni filed an Israel trademark application later that month for similar services in classes 35 and 42, with the same name and a different bee design. She opposed Sosha’s mark, arguing that she’d used her mark for 3 years, claiming it was well known.  However Siboni’s mark was ..read more

I have just participated in a 10 hour course on patent searching given by Arad Ophir Ltd, Israel’s leading data resource company, that was established 25 years ago, and which provides search and information services to patent firms, universities and  tech transfer companies, industrial players, and so on. The course was held in Machon Mofet at Michlelet Lewinsky, which is near the Glilot junction between Tel Aviv and Herzliya. The place is accessible and has plenty of free parking. The classroom used had computers, which allowed the participants to gain experience in using the various tools an ..read more

In 2001 Australia introduced an Innovation Patent. This required novelty and an innovative step, rather than an inventive step, issued after a month without examination and was valid for 8 years. If requested to do so and if a fee was paid, the patent could be examined, thereby providing an enforceable right. Thus the innovation patent is a kind of petty patent. The Intellectual Property Laws Amendment (Productivity Commission Response Part 2 and Other Measures) Bill 2019 has now been passed by both houses of Australia’s Federal Parliament. The amendment will abolish the innovation patent syst ..read more