It's time to do a little prior art searching, don't you think? Can you help?
Nokia just disclosed a list of patents that it claims VP8, the video compression format used by the WebM Project, infringes, and the way they filled in the form, the list looks as long and scary as it could possibly look, and just as the IETF was trying to reach consensus on VP8. But when you break the Nokia list down, country by country and then by patent, it's not so impressive after all. As it turns out, there are just a few patents repeated over and over. I think it's short enough that we can sensibly try to find prior art.
By the way, did you know that anyone, individual people I mean, can join the IETF mailing list and participate in the conversation? It's free, and while individuals may have affiliations and most do, it's not the kind of thing where companies or countries can dominate the way we watched happen in the OOXML affair, because unlike ISO or ITU, there are no national bodies to bribe influence, just individuals expressing their own opinions.
The IETF is a completely open standards body. If you'd like to and feel you understand the technology, you can join the mailing list and contribute to the decision-making process. It works by consensus. No need to bring your wallet.
Don't read on unless you are free to read patents, as usual.
[Update 1, Update 2, Update 3]
[ Update 2 - A Tool for Searching: A Groklaw member just sent me this this article in the Harvard Business Review, "Feeling Stumped? Innovation Software Can Help" and it is about a tool called Analogy Finder, a program that mines the U.S. Patent Database for analogous solutions. Here's the demo. Can some of you give it a whirl? Here's how you get going:
You start with two words that describe what you are looking for. ... From here, the program will take the two words and basically find all the patents that are relevant to the original goal — however that goal is expressed. It will then allow you to narrow and order the results in various ways. The program will even take into account what areas you are an expert in so you don't waste time looking at solutions that you would already have thought of.Let's try it out and if you find anything, either post it or email me. - End Update. - End Update.]
Google said at an IETF conference the other day that sublicenses will be royalty-free, thanks to the agreement it just signed with MPEG LA, when up stands a Nokia representative to say MPEG LA isn't the whole story and Nokia isn't a member. Nokia believes it has patents that are infringed by VP8, and it's not in the mood to license them. Here's the video of the event. And here's another talk at the same IETF conference, a slide talk on VP8-MTI by a Google guy. Notice the rude interruptions, by the way, if you are one of those who think Google is the evil one.
Interesting timing on Nokia's part, don't you think? It's like a bomb went off in the room, or at least inside my head. Why didn't Nokia mention them earlier, one wonders? These are old patents. So they had to know earlier, I would think.
I have my thoughts on that, but whatever the strategies behind the scenes may or may not be, prior art would be helpful to the situation, if there is any to be found. So why not look? Since Vp8 is a royalty-free alternative to MPEG LA's royalty-encumbered wares, do we need any more motivating reasons than that to want to help? I don't.
I've arranged the list for you in a way that makes it a little easier to figure out what they are holding and to find prior art. I'll show you the whole list, but I thought it would be sensible to start with just the US. At least some of the foreign patents are basically on the same technology, if not all. And while Estonia matters to Nokia, no doubt, it doesn't impact the patent infringement legal world as much as an injunction in the US might. Not that I expect that to happen.
Nokia's US Patents and Patent Applications:
Here are the US patents that Nokia claims VP8 might infringe, and in the brackets I provide the title and a link, and as you know, on Google, there is on each a link that says "Find prior art", so let's do that, in addition to any personal knowledge you brainiacs might have:
Country: US: Filing Date: 09.06.1998, Filing Number: 09/094177, Pub. Number: NA, Grant Number: 6504873 [Filtering based on activities inside the video blocks and at their boundary]I'm sure you noticed that there seem to be duplicates, with the same tech patented in another country. But even in the US-only context, you see the same title more than once. Those are continuations. What's that?Country: US: Filing Date: 11.08.1999, Filing Number: 09/371641, Pub. Number: NA, Grant Number: 6735249 [Apparatus, and associated method, for forming a compressed motion vector field utilizing predictive motion coding]
Country: US: Filing Date: 13.02.2004, Filing Number: 10/778449, Pub. Number: 20040165664, Grant Number: 7149251 [Apparatus, and associated method, for forming a compressed motion vector field utilizing predictive motion coding - Continuation of application No. 09/09/371,641 filed on Aug. 11, 1999, now Pat. No. 6,735,249.]
Country: US: Filing Date: 12.12.2006, Filing Number: 11/609873, Pub. Number: 20070140342, Grant Number: NA [APPARATUS, AND ASSOCIATED METHOD, FOR FORMING A COMPRESSED MOTION VECTOR FIELD UTILIZING PREDICTIVE MOTION CODING - Continuation of application No. 10/778,449, filed on Feb. 13, 2004, now Pat. No. 7,149, 251, which is a continuation of application No. 09/371,641, filed on Aug. 11, 1999, now Pat. No. 6,735,249.]
Country: US: Filing Date:19.01.2001, Filing Number: 09/766193, Pub. Number: 20010017942, Grant Number: 6907142 [Method for encoding images, and an image coder]
Country: US: Filing Date: 06.06.2005, Filing Number:11/146196, Pub. Number: 20050254717, Grant Number: 7295713 [Method for encoding images, and an image coder - Division of application No. 09/766/193, filed on Jan. 19, 2001, now Pat. No. 6,907,142]
Country: US: Filing Date: 19.01.2001, Filing Number: 09/766035, Pub. Number: 20010017944, Grant Number: NA [Method and associated device for filtering digital video images. Note this one relates to "Country: FI: Filing Date:20.01.2000, Filing Number: 20000120, Pub. Number: NA, Grant Number: 117533", according to the abstract.]
Country: US: Filing Date: 17.04.2007, Filing Number: 11/736454, Pub. Number: 20080095228, Grant Number: NA [SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING PICTURE OUTPUT INDICATIONS IN VIDEO CODING - "Related US Application Data: Provisional application No. 60/853,215, filed on Oct. 20, 2006."]
Country: US: Filing Date:08.05.2000, Filing Number: 09/566020, Pub. Number: NA, Grant Number: 6711211 [Method for encoding and decoding video information, a motion compensated video encoder and a corresponding decoder]
Country: US: Filing Date: 03.02.2004, Filing Number: 10/770986, Pub. Number: 20040156437, Grant Number: 6954502 [Method for encoding and decoding video information, a motion compensated video encoder and a corresponding decoder]
Country: US: Filing Date: 07.09.2005, Filing Number: 11/219917, Pub. Number: 20060013317, Grant Number: NA [Method for encoding and decoding video information, a motion compensated video encoder and a corresponding decoder]
Country: US: Filing Date :09.10.2007, Filing Number: 11/869445, Pub. Number: 20080247657, Grant Number: 7567719 [Method for encoding images, and an image coder; Filing date: Oct 9, 2007, Issue date: Jul 28, 2009.]
It's where the really elaborate machinations live, and the submarine patents. It's how you argue with the USPTO when it doesn't approve your patent application or if it does how you keep adding to what you already got approved from the USPTO, something you can do over and over to time indefinite.
Here's an article [PDF] by Mark Lemley and now-Judge Kimberly A. Moore that explains it, "Ending Abuse of Patent Continuations":
Abstract:I asked Professor Michael Risch what it means when you see continuations. Does it mean the owner loves the patents or the opposite, and he said that it means they care about the patents very much. He pointed me to the Lemley article, and he says a lot of patent lawyers disagree with Lemley's article, the ideas in it:One of the oddest things to an outsider about the United States patent system is that due to continuation practice it is impossible for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) ever to finally reject a patent application. Continuation applications have led to abuse of the patent prosecution process. They serve very little useful purpose, and what benefits they confer may be outweighed by their potential for mischief. In an effort to study the pervasiveness of continuation practice, we compiled an original dataset comprising 2,224,379 patents, every patent issued from 1976 through 2000. We found that while continuations are filed in 23% of all patent applications, patents based on continuation applications represent 52% of all litigated patents. Although continuations are used in a minority of all patents, it is the most important minority because it is the minority most likely to end up in litigation. We examine the efforts undertaken to control the problems associated with continuation patents (changing the patent term, publishing applications, prosecution laches) and find them insufficient. The world would probably be a better place if they were abolished. Recognizing, however, that the abuse of continuation practice is not as pervasive as some might think, we propose a number of means by which Congress and the courts could strengthen existing rules designed to limit their abuse while preserving the practice. At a minimum, the empirical data we present can provide litigants and judges with a baseline for assessing the reasonableness of delay caused by the filing of multiple continuations by the patentee in determining the applicability of equitable remedies such as prosecution laches.
Their counter argument is that continuations are necessary because patentees often don't know the full scope of what's a new invention when they file. So a good patent prosecutor gets a good, big, long disclosure filed, and then always keeps a version "alive" -- you accept and close on some claims, while you continue to fight with the PTO about new claims (that magically cover you competitors) or that are broader than your original claims.... If you add divisionals (where the description really covers two inventions) and continuations in part (where some new matter is added, but not all), it can get really ugly. As you get further out from the original, the chances of the claims not really covering what the inventor invented go up -- which might show in more written description problems, or simply anticipation (broader claims are more likely to have been invented before).Sigh. In other words, that's where you try to get more than you had in the beginning, maybe as you see what others are inventing so you can sue them. Blech. I so hate patent law. The Lemley-Moore article explains in a little more detail on page 2 (3 of the PDF]:
Continuation practice has a number of pernicious consequences, which we detail in Part II. First, at a minimum, continuation practice introduces substantial delay and uncertainty into the lives of a patentee’s competitors,6 who can never know whether a patent application is pending. Second, the structure of the PTO suggests that continuations may well succeed in “wearing down” the examiner, so that the applicant obtains a broad patent not because he deserves one but because the examiner has neither incentive nor will to hold out any longer. Third, continuation practice can be – and has been – used strategically to gain advantages over competitors by waiting to see what product the competitor will make and then drafting patent claims specifically designed to cover that product. Finally, some patentees have used continuation practice to delay the issuance of their patent precisely in order to surprise a mature industry, a process known as “submarine patenting.”That's a 2003 article, so maybe the times are different now. Because what I see are applications in the US list a lot older than that. Maybe that means Nokia scraped the bottom of its barrel, to come up with this list, including applications that have been withering on the vine a while?_______
6 Original applications take on average 1.96 years from their filing to issuance. Continuations, in contrast, take on average 4.16 years. See infra notes __-__ and accompanying text.
[Update 1: Here's a chart showing how long a random set of patents that issued in 2012 were pendent -- as you can see, there are wait times, and as we learned continuations can prolong the process if they date back to the original filing date, but I notice not many are as old as, for example, Nokia's application, the one second from last on the list, which is 8 years old now.]
Anyway, if gut instinct means anything, you would imagine that continuations mean the possibility of invalidity has gone up and up. The article, for example, describes how applicants work to wear an examiner down: "There is no way an examiner can ever cause a determined applicant to go away, though allowing the applicant’s patent claims will increase the chance that the case will finally be disposed of."
[Update 3: Mark Webbink gave me a little more explanation:
1. A continuation is a subset of an earlier filed application. Often what happens is that the examiner finds there to be more than one patentable invention in the application, so the applicant separates them out. Or the applicant sees the opportunity to further refine one of the claims. In any case, a continuation cannot assert claims broader than those included in the original application.He adds that there surely are patents that have been pending at least as long as Nokia's, but there's more:
What often happens is that these applications get rejected, the applicant then revises the claims and asks for reconsideration. The USPTO has been in no hurry to process these reconsideration requests. As a general rule, if the prosecution of the patent has taken this long (9 years) then it is fair to venture that there are some significant issues with the subject matter claimed.Aha! - End Update.]
I've arranged the list of Nokia's patents, the complete list, but arranged by country instead of just jumbled up in a big ball. Of course, there will be more overlaps between these patents and those in other countries, one assumes, than what I noticed in compiling the US list. And if you live in Germany, Japan, Spain, etc. and want to go ahead and are free to do so, by all means check them out and provide us with urls, connections, and info.
Nokia's List, By Country:
Australia:And just to be certain we didn't miss anything, here's the list as Nokia provided it to the IETF, and yes, they provided it looking just like this, perhaps to look as terrifying as possible or maybe this is just how it's done:Country: AU: Filing Date: 22.01.2001, Filing Number: 30275/01, Pub. Number: NA, Grant Number: 778990Austria:
Country: AU: Filing Date: 29.08.2007, Filing Number: 2007311526, Pub. Number: NA, Grant Number: 2007311526Country: AT: Filing Date: 22.01.2001, Filing Number: 01902442.1, Pub. Number: 1186177, Grant Number: 1186177Brazil:Country: BR: Filing Date: 22.01.2001, Filing Number: PI0107706.6, Pub. Number: 0107706, Grant Number: NACanada:
Country:BR Filing Date: 29.08.2007, Filing Number: PI0718205.8, Pub. Number:NA, Grant Number: NACountry: BR: Filing Date: 08.05.2001, Filing Number: PI0110627.9, Pub. Number: 0110627, Grant Number: NA
Country: CA: Filing Date: 22.01.2001, Filing Number: 2374523, Pub. Number: NA, Grant Number: 2374523China:
Country: CA: Filing Date: 22.01.2001, Filing Number: 2397090, Pub. Number: NA, Grant Number: 2397090
Country: CA: Filing Date: 15.01.2007, Filing Number: 2572566, Pub. Number: NA, Grant Number: 2572566
Country: CA: Filing Date: 17.12.2007, Filing Number: 2614571, Pub. Number: NA, Grant Number: NA
Country:CA: Filing Date: 08.05.2001, Filing Number: 2408364, Pub. Number: NA, Grant Number: 2408364Country: CN: Filing Date:10.08.2000, Filing Number: 00814037.5, Pub. Number: 1378750, Grant Number: ZL00814037.5EP:
Country: CN: Filing Date: 22.01.2001, Filing Number: 01800565.9, Pub. Number: 1365575, Grant Number: ZL01800565.9
Country: CN: Filing Date: 06.10.2005, Filing Number: 200510113767.6, Pub. Number: 1756362, Grant Number: NA
Country: CN: Filing Date: 22.01.2001, Filing Number: 01806682.8, Pub. Number: 1418436, Grant Number: ZL01806682.8
Country: CN: Filing Date: 11.03.2005, Filing Number: 200510056330.3, Pub. Number: 1658677, Grant Number: 200510056330.3
Country: CN: Filing Date: 08.05.2001, Filing Number: 01812464.X, Pub. Number: 1457606, Grant Number: 01812464.X
Country: CN: Filing Date: 29.08.2007, Filing number: 200780044601.0, Pub. Number: 101548548, Grant Number: 200780044601.0Country: EP: Filing Date: 08.05.2001, Filing Number: 01931769.2, Pub. Number: 1282982, Grant Number: NAEstonia:
Country: EP: Filing Date: 29.08.2007, Filing Number 07826205.2, Pub. Number: 2080375, Grant Number: NACountry: EE: Filing Date: 08.05.2001, Filing Number: P200200627, Pub.number: P200200627, Grant Number: 5487Finland:Country: FI: Filing Date: 10.08.2000, Filing Number: 00957359.3, Pub. Number: 1206881, Grant Number: 1206881France:
Country: FI: Filing Date:20.01.2000, Filing Number: 20000120, Pub. Number: NA, Grant Number: 117533
Country: FI: Filing Date:21.01.2000, Filing Number: 20000131, Pub. Number: NA, Grant Number: 116819Country: FR: Filing Date: 22.05.1998, Filing Number: 98660050.0, Pub. Number: 0884911, Grant Number: 0884911Germany:
Country: FR: Filing Date:10.08.2000, Filing Number: 00957359.3, Pub. Number: 1206881, Grant Number: 1206881
Country: FR: Filing Date: 22.01.2001, Filing Number: 01902442.1, Pub. Number: 1186177, Grant Number: 1186177Country: DE: Filing Date: 22.05.1998, Filing Number: 98660050.0, Pub. Number:0884911, Grant Number: 69825220Great Britain:
Country: DE: Filing Date: 10.08.2000, Filing Number: 00957359.3, Pub. Number: 1206881, Grant Number: 60015566.8
Country: DE: Filing Date: 22.01.2001, Filing Number: 01902442.1, Pub. Number: 1186177, Grant Number: 60145194.5
Country: DE: Filing Date: 22.01.2001, Filing Number: 01902443.9, Pub. Number: 1249132, Grant Number: 60144513.9Country: GB: Filing Date:22.05.1998, Filing Number: 98660050.0, Pub. Number: 0884911, Grant Number: 0884911Hong Kong:
Country: GB:Filing Date: 10.08.2000, Filing Number: 00957359.3, Pub. Number: 1206881, Grant Number: 1206881
Country: GB: Filing Date: 22.01.2001, Filing Number: 01902442.1, Pub. Number: 1186177, Grant Number: 1186177
Country: GB: Filing Date: 22.01.2001, Filing Number: 01902443.9, Pub.Number: 1249132, Grant Number: 1249132Country: HK: Filing Date: 10.01.2003, Filing Number: 03100263.7, Pub. Number:1048411, Grant number: 1048411Hungary:
Country: HK: Filing Date: 17.08.2006, Filing Number: 06109148.6, Pub. Number: 1089030, Grant Number: NA
Country: HK: Filing Date: 10.09.2003, Filing Number: 03106477.6, Pub. Number: NA, Grant Number: 1054288
Country: HK: Filing Date: 04.01.2006, Filing Number: 06100170.6, Pub. Number: 1080653, Grant Number: 1080653Country: HU: Filing Date: 08.05.2001, Filing Number: P0302617, Pub. Number: P0302617, Grant Number: NAIndia:Country: IN: Filing Date: 29.08.2007, Filing Number: 2656/DELNP/2009, Pub. Number:NA, Grant Number: NAIreland:Country: IE: Filing Date: 22.01.2001, Filing Number: 01902442.1, Pub. Number: 1186177, Grant Number: 1186177Italy:Country: IT: Filing Date: 10.08.2000, Filing Number: 00957359.3, Pub. Number: 1206881, Grant number:1206881Japan:
Country: IT: Filing Date: 22.01.2001, Filing Number: 01902442.1, Pub. Number: 1186177, Grant Number: 1186177Country: JP: Filing Date: 09.04.2008, Filing Number: 2008-101068, Pub. Number:2008-178149, Grant number: NAKorea:
Country: JP: Filing Date: 22.01.2001, Filing Number: 2001-553307, Pub. Number: 2003-520531, Grant number: NA
Country: JP: Filing Date: 20.09.2007, Filing Number: 2007-244456, Pub. Number: 2008-054335, Grant Number: NA
Country: JP: Filing Date: 20.04.2012, Filing Number:2012-096255, Pub. Number: 2012-170122, Grant Number: NA
Country: JP: Filing Date: 08.05.2001, Filing Number: 2001-583055, Pub. Number: 2003-533142, Grant Number: 4369090
Country: JP: Filing Date: 29.08.2007, Filing Number: 2009-532920, Pub. Number: 2010-507310, Grant Number: 4903877Country: KR: Filing Date: 22.01.2001, Filing Number: 2002-7009307, Pub. Number: NA, Grant Number: 714355Mexico:
Country: KR: Filing Date: 08.05.2001, Filing Number: 2002-7014937, Pub. Number: 2003-11325, Grant Number: 772576Country: MX: Filing Date: 08.05.2001, Filing Number: PA/A/2002/010964, Pub. Number: NA, Grant Number: 229275Netherlands:
Country: MX :Filing Date: 02.06.2005, Filing Number: PA/A/05/005901, Pub. Number: NA, Grant Number: 259781
Country: MX: Filing Date: 29.08.2007, Filing Number: MX/a/2009/004123 , Pub. Number: MX/a/2009/004123, Grant Number: NACountry: NL: Filing Date:22.05.1998, Filing Number: 98660050.0, Pub. Number: 0884911, Grant Number: 0884911Philippines:
Country: NL: Filing Date: 10.08.2000, Filing Number: 00957359.3, Pub. Number: 1206881, Grant Number:1206881
Country: NL: Filing Date: 22.01.2001, Filing Number: 01902442.1, Pub. Number: 1186177, Grant Number: 1186177
Country: NL: Filing Date: 22.01.2001, Filing Number: 01902443.9, Pub. Number: 1249132, Grant Number: 1249132Country: PH: Filing Date: 29.08.2007, Filing Number: 1-2009-500724, Pub. Number: NA, Grant Number: NARussia:Country: RU: Filing Date: 22.01.2001, Filing Number: 2002100648, Pub. Number: NA, Grant Number: 2295203Singapore:
Country: RU: Filing Date: 10.11.2006, Filing Number: 2006139951, Pub.Number: 2006139951, Grant Number: 2358410
Country: RU: Filing Date: 29.08.2007, Filing Number: 2009117688, Pub. Number: NA, Grant Number: NACountry: SG: Filing Date: 22.01.2001, Filing Number: 200107086.1, Pub. Number: NA, Grant Number: 84926South Africa:
Country: SG: Filing Date: 17.09.2004, Filing Number: 200405663.6, Pub. Number: 128476, Grant Number: 128476
Country: SG: Filing Date: 22.01.2001, Filing Number: 200204136.6, Pub. Number: NA, Grant Number: 90389
Country:SG: Filing Date: 08.05.2001, Filing Number: 200206648.8, Pub. Number: NA, Grant Number: 92888
Country: SG: Filing Date:29.08.2007, Filing Number: 200902620-4, Pub. Number: NA, Grant Number: 151785Country: ZA: Filing Date: 22.01.2001, Filing Number: 2002/5506, Pub. Number: NA, Grant Number: 2002/5506Spain:
Country: ZA: Filing Date: 08.05.2001, Filing Number: 2002/8767, Pub. Number: NA, Grant Number: 2002/8767Country: ES: Filing Date: 22.01.2001, Filing Number:01902442.1, Pub. Number: 1186177, Grant Number: 1186177Sweden:Country: SE: Filing Date: 22.01.2001, Filing Number: 01902442.1, Pub. Number: 1186177, Grant Number: 1186177Turkey:Country: TR: Filing Date: 22.01.2001, Filing Number: 01902442.1, Pub. Number: 1186177, Grant Number: 1186177The US:Country: US: Filing Date: 09.06.1998, Filing Number: 09/094177, Pub. Number: NA, Grant Number: 6504873Vietnam:
Country: US: Filing Date: 11.08.1999, Filing Number: 09/371641, Pub. Number: NA, Grant Number: 6735249
Country: US: Filing Date: 13.02.2004, Filing Number: 10/778449, Pub. Number: 20040165664, Grant Number: 7149251
Country: US: Filing Date: 12.12.2006, Filing Number: 11/609873, Pub. Number: 20070140342, Grant Number: NA
Country: US: Filing Date: 19.01.2001, Filing Number: 09/766035, Pub. Number: 20010017944, Grant Number: NA
Country: US: Filing Date:19.01.2001, Filing Number: 09/766193, Pub. Number: 20010017942, Grant Number: 6907142
Country: US: Filing Date: 06.06.2005, Filing Number:11/146196, Pub. Number: 20050254717, Grant Number: 7295713
Country: US: Filing Date :09.10.2007, Filing Number: 11/869445, Pub. Number: 20080247657, Grant Number: 7567719
Country: US: Filing Date:08.05.2000, Filing Number: 09/566020, Pub. Number: NA, Grant Number: 6711211
Country: US: Filing Date: 03.02.2004, Filing Number: 10/770986, Pub. Number: 20040156437, Grant Number: 6954502
Country: US: Filing Date: 07.09.2005, Filing Number: 11/219917, Pub. Number: 20060013317, Grant Number: NA
Country: US: Filing Date: 17.04.2007, Filing Number: 11/736454, Pub. Number: 20080095228, Grant Number: NACountry: VN: Filing Date: 29.08.2007, Filing Number: 1-2009-00996, Pub. Number: 22209, Grant number: NA
V. Disclosure of Patent Information (i.e., patents or patent applications required to be disclosed by Section 6 of RFC 3979) A. For granted patents or published pending patent applications, please provide the following information: Patent, Serial, Publication, Registration, or Application/File number(s): Country:DE:Filing date:22.05.1998, Filing number:98660050.0, Pub.number:0884911, Grant number:69825220 Country:FR:Filing date:22.05.1998, Filing number:98660050.0, Pub.number:0884911, Grant number:0884911 Country:GB:Filing date:22.05.1998, Filing number:98660050.0, Pub.number:0884911, Grant number:0884911 Country:NL:Filing date:22.05.1998, Filing number:98660050.0, Pub.number:0884911, Grant number:0884911 Country:US:Filing date:09.06.1998, Filing number:09/094177, Pub.number:NA, Grant number:6504873 Country:CN:Filing date:10.08.2000, Filing number:00814037.5, Pub.number:1378750, Grant number:ZL00814037.5 Country:DE:Filing date:10.08.2000, Filing number:00957359.3, Pub.number:1206881, Grant number:60015566.8 Country:FI:Filing date:10.08.2000, Filing number:00957359.3, Pub.number:1206881, Grant number:1206881 Country:FR:Filing date:10.08.2000, Filing number:00957359.3, Pub.number:1206881, Grant number:1206881 Country:GB:Filing date:10.08.2000, Filing number:00957359.3, Pub.number:1206881, Grant number:1206881 Country:IT:Filing date:10.08.2000, Filing number:00957359.3, Pub.number:1206881, Grant number:1206881 Country:NL:Filing date:10.08.2000, Filing number:00957359.3, Pub.number:1206881, Grant number:1206881 Country:US:Filing date:11.08.1999, Filing number:09/371641, Pub.number:NA, Grant number:6735249 Country:US:Filing date:13.02.2004, Filing number:10/778449, Pub.number:20040165664, Grant number:7149251 Country:US:Filing date:12.12.2006, Filing number:11/609873, Pub.number:20070140342, Grant number:NA Country:JP:Filing date:09.04.2008, Filing number:2008-101068, Pub.number:2008-178149, Grant number:NA Country:AU:Filing date:22.01.2001, Filing number:30275/01, Pub.number:NA, Grant number:778990 Country:CA:Filing date:22.01.2001, Filing number:2374523, Pub.number:NA, Grant number:2374523 Country:CN:Filing date:22.01.2001, Filing number:01800565.9, Pub.number:1365575, Grant number:ZL01800565.9 Country:CN:Filing date:06.10.2005, Filing number:200510113767.6, Pub.number:1756362, Grant number:NA Country:FI:Filing date:20.01.2000, Filing number:20000120, Pub.number:NA, Grant number:117533 Country:HK:Filing date:10.01.2003, Filing number:03100263.7, Pub.number:1048411, Grant number:1048411 Country:HK:Filing date:17.08.2006, Filing number:06109148.6, Pub.number:1089030, Grant number:NA Country:RU:Filing date:22.01.2001, Filing number:2002100648, Pub.number:NA, Grant number:2295203 Country:RU:Filing date:10.11.2006, Filing number:2006139951, Pub.number:2006139951, Grant number:2358410 Country:SG:Filing date:22.01.2001, Filing number:200107086.1, Pub.number:NA, Grant number:84926 Country:SG:Filing date:17.09.2004, Filing number:200405663.6, Pub.number:128476, Grant number:128476 Country:US:Filing date:19.01.2001, Filing number:09/766035, Pub.number:20010017944, Grant number:NA 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