Other Barks and Bites, Friday, March 8: DOJ Arrests Chinese Citizen Accused of Stealing Google Trade Secrets; WIPO Patent Activity Drops for First Time in 14 Years; New Copyright Detector Finds High Rate of Copyright Infringement by Generative AI

This week in Other Barks and Bites: Amazon and Huawei resolve their patent dispute by closing a global patent agreement; the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) arrests a Chinese citizen accused of stealing proprietary information from Google, and the Bank of America announces patent growth with focus on AI.

Bites

WIPO Patent Activity Drops for First Time in 14 Years

On Thursday, March 7, the World Intellectual Property Organization published information about the top users in 2023 of WIPO’s international patent system that found Huawei Technologies, Samsung Electronics, and Qualcomm as the world’s top users. The use by the top two users, China and the U.S., dropped slightly, but India was the fastest-growing user with an increase of 50% in patent filing activity. Despite India’s growth, worldwide patent filing activity with the WIPO dropped by 1.8%, the first decline in 14 years. “Declining inflation rates forecast for 2024 and hotspots like India, South-east Asia and beyond may provide more business confidence and innovation investments, setting the stage for a recovery in international IP fillings later this year,” said WIPO Director General Daren Tang.

New Copyright Detector Finds High Rates of Copyright Infringement in Top Generative AIs

On Wednesday, March 6, AI startup Patronus AI released research using its new copyright detection API that OpenAI’s ChatGPT produced copyrighted content in 44% of given prompts. Patronus AI released the research in tandem with the company’s announcement of its new copyright detector CopyrightCatcher. The researchers used their new copyright detector to feed 100 prompts that could produce material from popular copyrighted books. OpenAI’s ChatGPT did the worse with 44%, but other generative AIs also produced copyrighted-material, including Mistral at 22%, Meta at 10%, and Anthropic coming in at 8%.

Justice Department Arrests Chinese Citizen Accused of Stealing Google’s Trade Secrets

On Wednesday, March 6, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that it had arrested a Chinese citizen who has been charged with four counts of trade secret theft. Leon Ding has been accused of stealing proprietary AI information from Google and attempting to transfer that information to companies based in China. “While we work to responsibly harness the benefits of AI, the Justice Department is on high alert to its risks, including global threats to our national security,” Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco remarked on the case.

Amazon and Huawei Announce Global Patent Agreement to End Patent Dispute

On Monday, March 4, Huawei and Amazon signed a multi-year patent cross-license agreement that resolves multiple lawsuits filed by Huawei against Amazon in Germany related to Wi-Fi and video patents. “Huawei is pleased to exchange patent rights with Amazon,” said Alan Fan, Head of Huawei’s Intellectual Property Rights Department.

Barks

CAFC Grants Victory to Cooling System Company in Patent Dispute with USPTO

On Thursday, March 7, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) vacated a USPTO decision finding that it erred in its claim construction of two provisional applications related to technology that cools electronic devices. The CAFC decision revives the claims in CoolIT Systems’ provisional patent applications and remanded the dispute for further legal proceedings.

Bank of America Sees Patent Growth with Focus on IT and AI

On Wednesday, March 6, the Bank of America announced a record year for its patent portfolio including 70% growth over the last five years. The bank’s patent portfolio sits at 6,600 granted patents and patent applications and has increased from 75th to 64th in the Intellectual Property Owners Association’s Top 300 list of patent owners. Bank of America has focused on information technology and artificial intelligence, which account for nearly 50% of the company’s granted patents in 2023.

Seoul Semiconductor Files Patent Infringement Lawsuit Against Amazon in EU Unified Patent Court

On Tuesday, March 5, Seoul Semiconductor announced it has filed a lawsuit in the European Unified Patent Court accusing Amazon of patent infringement. The patents related to the case cover several novel LED light technologies. “Despite emphasis on ESG management, some large LED companies are merely distributing infringing products with little interest in respecting intellectual properties,” said Han-seon Park, Executive Vice President of Seoul Semiconductor’s marketing department.

Frida Kahlo Corporation Launches Trademark Infringement Lawsuit

On Monday, March 4, the Frida Kahlo Corporation filed a lawsuit accusing multiple online retailers of infringing on the company’s trademark controlling Frida Kahlo’s image rights. The company is controlled by Kahlo’s niece and holds multiple trademarks related to the painter. The company said the defendant’s merchandise is “virtually identical” to their trademarks.

This Week on Wall Street

NYCB Announces $1 Billion in Private Equity Injection After Surprise Losses

On Thursday, March 7, New York Community Bancorp (NYCB) announced an injection of $1 billion from private equity firms including from former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin’s Liberty Strategic Capital. NYCB`. Mnuchin and other private equity firm leaders will also join the board of directors in the bank’s bid to stem the flow of customers pulling their money out of the bank after Moody’s Investors Service and Fitch Ratings updated the bank to junk status.

Fed Open to Interest Rate Cuts in 2024

On Wednesday, March 6, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell testified before the House Committee on Financial Services and told the committee members that if the economy evolves as expected then the Fed expects to cut interest rates this calendar year. However, Powell held off from announcing an immediate interest rate cut and remained cautious overall on the Fed’s progress reducing inflation. “Reducing policy restraint too soon or too much could result in a reversal of progress we have seen in inflation and ultimately require even tighter policy to get inflation back to 2 percent,” said Powell.

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: Oracle (48)
• Tuesday: International Game Technology (257)
• Wednesday: None
• Thursday: Adobe (98)
• Friday: None