Lineup for 2017 EPO awards

Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

The fifteen contenders for a 2017 European patent award, three in each of the five categories of Industry, Research, Non-EPO countries, Small and Medium Enterprises, and Life-time Achievement, are presented in the short EPO video. Hyperlinks to the contenders and the patented inventions are also included below.

Copyright ©  EPOFilm  

Industry

• Lars Liljeryd (Sweden) -  EP0940015 - Source coding enhancement using spectral-band replication
• Giuseppe Remuzzi, Carlamaria Zoja and Ariela Benigni (Italy) -  EP1019048 (A1) ― 2000-07-19 - Use of an angiotensin ii receptor antagonist for the preparation of drugs to increase the survival rate of renal transplant patients
• Jan van den Boogaart and Oliver Hayden (The Netherlands/Austria) - EP2635695 (A1) ― 2013-09-11 - Method for detecting a plasmodium infection.

Research

• Hans Clevers (The Netherlands)- EP0972037 (B1) ― 2006-08-16 - Beta-catenin, tcf-4, and apc interact to prevent cancer
• Laurent Lestarquit, José Ángel Ávila Rodríguez and team (France, Spain) -  EP1570287 (B1) ― 2006-05-03 - Method and device for generating a constant envelope navigation signal with four independent codes
• Sylviane Muller (France) - EP1425295 (B1) ― 2009-12-23 - Modified peptides and their use for the treatment of autoimmune diseases.  

Non EPO countries

• James G. Fujimoto, Eric A. Swanson and Robert Huber (USA, Germany) - EP0883793 (B1) ― 2007-11-14 - Method and apparatus for performing optical measurements using a fiber optic imaging guidewire, catheter or endoscope
• Waleed Hassanein (USA) - EP1768490 (A2) ― 2007-04-04 - Systems and methods for ex-vivo organ care 
• Adnane Remmal (Morocco) - EP1879655 (B1) ― 2014-11-26 - Pharmaceutical composition comprising an anti-bacterial agent and an active ingredient selected from carveol, carvacrol, alpha-ionone, beta-ionone, and thymol.  

Small & Medium enterprises

• Gert-Jan Gruter (The Netherlands)- EP2001859 (B1) ― 2010-05-19 - Use of organic acid esters of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural as a fuel or fuel additive
• Günter Hufschmid (Germany) - EP2392630 (B1) ― 2015-12-02 - Spray products from polymers (hydrocarbons) in the form of a fibrously matted polymer wool, production as well as their use as an oil binding agent and chemical binding agent, as adsorption products for oils, oil rubbish and other hydrophobic liquids to the cleaning of water, rivers, lakes and seas, sand or earth 
• Steve Lindsey (United Kingdom) - EP0933500 (B1) ― 2003-08-27 - Rotary piston machine.  

Life-time achievement

• Elmar Mock (Switzerland) - EP0101663 (B1) ― 1986-10-08 - Method of producing a watch and watch obtained by this method
• Rino Rappuoli (Italy) - EP0322533 (A1) ― 1989-07-05 - Bordetella pertussis toxin with altered toxicity  
• Axel Ullrich (Germany) -  EP0121338 (A1) ― 1984-10-10 - Biosynthetically produced human nerve growth factor, process for producing it, compositions containing it, DNA sequence encoding it, vectors containing the sequence and host cells transformed thereby.

European Patent Awards 2017 - Vote here!

Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

The Jury of the annual European Patent Office Awards has deliberated. The list of the 2017 finalists has been announced. 

You may participate in the European Inventor Awards by casting votes for your favorite invention in the Popular Awards category. Prizes are awarded in a total of six categories, including Industry, Research, Small and Medium Entreprises, Non-European Patent Organization inventor, Lifetime Achievement and the Popular Award.

Vote here

The winners, one in each category, will receive their prizes on June 15, 2017, in a ceremony to be held this year in Venice (Italy).
You may vote as many times as you like, every day, but just one vote each day. The list of the finalists with videos highlighting their work is included with the ballot. 

Earth Day

Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

References
March of Science
https://www.marchforscience.com/ 
Earthday.org
http://www.earthday.org/
UN International Mother Earth Day 2017
http://www.un.org/en/events/motherearthday/background.shtml

An inconvenient sequel

Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

10 years ago, former Vice-President Al Gore, delivered the message of climate change to the world in a beautiful documentary and book, both titled An inconvenient Truth. A year later, in 2007, Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in connection with this message. Although the effects of greenhouse gasses on the climate were known well before the publication of this book and release of the documentary, no one had really understood the urgency of the situation or felt compelled to take action.

Thereafter, this much changed on a planetary level. Whether it was Energy Star appliances in the home economics department, idle functions on laptops, solar energy initiatives, the widescale adoption of hybrid cars as a step towards electric ones, or flyknit uppers on sports shoes, everyone both personally and collectively began taking steps to reduce their fossil fuel footprint. On an international level, the largest industrial polluting nations of the Northern hemisphere also began taking responsibility for creating an increased threat of famine and hardship, arising from ever greater climate changes in the Southern hemisphere.

Now, mark July 28, 2017 in your agendas as the release date of An Inconvenient Sequel: From Truth to Power,  a documentary that promises to be at least as game-changing as the first. 

In any event, green might be staying, contrary to what was feared at Patents on the soles of your shoes in the aftermath of the Nov 2016 elections.

References

AL Gore

https://www.algore.com/

IPCC – Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

https://www.ipcc.ch/index.htm
Nobel Peace Prize 2007
http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/2007/
The Climate Reality Project
https://www.climaterealityproject.org/blog/inconvenient-truth-then-and-now
Green gone grey post November 2016 US elections?
http://patentsonthesolesofyourshoes.blogspot.com/2016/12/green-gone-grey-post-nov-2016-us.html

Oh, patents! Willow™ wearable breast pump! (2)

Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

The Willow™ wearable breast pump’s many smart and mechanical features are also patented. Below, a list of the Willow™ pump patents:

• AU2015292839 (A1) ― 2017-02-16 - Breast pump system and methods
• AU2015292864 (A1) ― 2017-02-02 - Breast pump system and methods
• CA2955605 (A1) ― 2016-01-28 - Breast pump system and methods
• CA2955939 (A1) ― 2016-01-28 - Breast pump system and methods
• SG11201700370Y (A) ― 2017-02-27 - Breast pump system and methods 
• SG11201700489W (A) ― 2017-02-27 - Breast pump system and methods 
• US2016287769 (A1) ― 2016-10-06 - Breast pump system and methods
• US2016303298 (A1) ― 2016-10-20 - Breast pump container assemblies
• US2016206794 (A1) ― 2016-07-21 - Breast pump system and methods 
• US2016310649 (A1) ― 2016-10-27 - Breast pump container assemblies
• US2016310650 (A1) ― 2016-10-27 - Breast pump system and methods
• US9539376 (B2) ― 2017-01-10 - Breast pump system and methods
• US9539377 (B2) ― 2017-01-10 - Breast pump system and methods
• WO2016014469 (A1) ― 2016-01-28 - Breast pump system and methods
• WO2016014483 (A1) ― 2016-01-28 - Breast pump system and methods   
• WO2016014488 (A1) ― 2016-01-28 - Breast pump system and methods
• WO2016014494 (A1) ― 2016-01-28 - Breast pump system and methods 

Oh, patents! Willow™ wearable breast pump! (1)

Copyright  © Françoise Herrmann

Presented at CES 2017, the Willow™ breast pump has the very desirable advantage of being “wearable” and consequently “hands-free”. The devices (one for each breast) just slip into a bra, so that nursing mothers can use them at any time during the day. Indeed, this wearable device appears as a far better option for nursing mothers than being tethered to an outlet a bit like a rechargeable appliance. And certainly, the Willow™ breast pump has come a long way since US11135, an 1854 patented breast-pump actuated with a bellow pump!

Indeed, perhaps that this is in fact the long-awaited product that nursing mothers, lactation consultants, midwives, public health researchers, designers and engineers have collectively envisioned, and facilitated, via their participation in the “Make the breast pump not suck hackathon”, organized at the MIT Media Lab in 2014, within the context of research carried out on post-partum technologies (D’Ignazio, 2014).

Considering an article published by D’Ignazio, et al. (2016), reporting on 1136 mother-submitted ideas for improving breast pumps, crowdsourced in a participatory, human-centered and feminist Human Computer Interaction (HCI) approach to design, it certainly looks as though many of the design features incorporated into the Willow™ pump, fit the bill of the “breast pump that doesn’t suck”!

Take mobility, for example. According to D’Ignazio et. al (2016), the issue of mobility is high on the list of Mothers’ wishes, not only for the obvious reported reasons of being able to multitask (e.g.; to get up and get a glass of water when pumping, or to mind multiple children while still being able to collect milk), or even to go back to work without being plugged in a bathroom or a car outlet, but also for less obvious reasons. Less obvious reasons such as mothers being able to bypass the stress of being tethered and the associated feelings of humiliation, the belittling perception of sharing a milking experience with other non-human mammals, or of being isolated because of the social stigma associated with pumping milk in public. D’Ignazio et. al. (2016) also report on mothers’ stories about having to dodge colleagues and co-workers to prevent them from feeling embarrassed, not only with pumping, but with just the sight of the pumping apparatus and the bottles or bags of extracted milk.

So, indeed, a wearable breast pump, capable of restoring the freedom and taken for granted gifts of mobility are the winning features of this invention.

Mobility, however, is not the only desirable feature of a breast pump according to the Feminist HCI study. And the Willow™ breast pump seems to incorporate quite a few more of the nursing mothers’ wishes. 

The Willow™ breast pump further includes a quiet mode of operation enabling nursing mothers to engage in conversations while pumping, or to talk on the phone. The Willow™ pump includes a Bluetooth™ connection to a phone app enabling mothers to monitor the amount of milk collected in real-time, and to track previous pumping sessions. The milk is also collected directly in an internal bag which dispenses with the use of bottles, and all that might be perceived as “unsightly”. 

The Willow™ wearable breast pumps also insert into the mother’s own bra which prevents, according to the studied reports, the sizeable extra costs of a bra accessory that can convert a non-wearable breast pump into a wearable one.  Best of all perhaps, beyond mobility, is the fact that the Willow™ pump is machine washable, which guarantees that the pump will be sanitized clean, saves time, and ditches all the feelings of discomfort associated with having to wash a breast pump in a bathroom at work, instead of the kitchen – even when a kitchen is available. 

Thus, the Willow™ wearable breast pump perhaps finally appears as the quintessential “breast pump that doesn’t suck”! 

Only now, it has to start shipping!

References

US11135 – Breast-pump – Granted to Orwell Needham, 1854

CES 2017

http://www.ces.tech/

D’Ignazio, C. (2014) MIT Media Lab – The make the breast pump not suck hackathon, May 29, 2014.

https://medium.com/mit-media-lab/the-media-lab-make-the-breast-pump-not-suck-hackathon-513fad8bc451#.2kosc31kr

D’Ignazio, C. (2015) Does the breast pump still suck? Eight awesome outcomes of the MIT Media Lab Hackathon, February 19, 2015.

https://medium.com/mit-media-lab/does-the-breast-pump-still-suck-64e40eba6aec#.bhsy0j6fb

D’Ignazio, C. et. al. (2016) A feminist HCI approach to designing postpartum technologies: “When I first saw a breast pump I was wondering if it was a joke”. Proceedings CHI 2016, May 7-12, 2016, San Jose, CA.  http://breastpump.media.mit.edu/BreastpumpPaper_CHI_pn2106.pdf

Nijhuis, M. (2014) Hacking the breast pump. The New Yorker

http://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/hacking-breast-pump

Willow™

https://www.willowpump.com/

International Women's Day!

Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

Today is International Women's Day! The first International Women's Day was celebrated on Feb. 28, 1909, upon invitation fo the American Socialist Party, within the context of the women's suffrage movement. 

During the International Year of Women, in 1975, the UN voted March 8 International Women's Day.

In July 2010, the UN National Assembly voted for the creation of UN Women, The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. 

• For all the related events happening in NYC, check out UN Women - Media Advisory, 
• For events in your area (everywhere), check out IWD - International Women's Day Events

References

IWD - International Women's Day
https://www.internationalwomensday.com/
IWD - International Women's Day Events
https://www.internationalwomensday.com/Events
UN Women - Media advisory - Internaitonal Women's Day
http://www.unwomen.org/en/news/stories/2017/2/media-advisory-international-womens-day-8-march-2017
UN Women - Women in the Changing World of Work: Planet 50-50 by 2030 - Message by UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka on International Women's Day, 8 March 2017
http://www.unwomen.org/en/news/stories/2017/2/statement-ed-phumzile-iwd-2017
UN Women - International Women''s Day
http://www.unwomen.org/en/news/in-focus/international-womens-day
About UN Women
http://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/about-un-women