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By Bloomberg

Google Inc., maker of the world’s most used Internet search engine, has patented a technology that will make it possible for users to calculate the best way to get from one point to another while achieving fitness goals.

Patent 9,053,509, issued Tuesday, covers the use of a mobile computing device to calculate distance and travel time to a destination. The device can also track information related to physical activity and the user’s physiological profile and will provide information to help the user attain a particular fitness goal.

The device can recommend a mode of transportation that is predicted to help the user hit the goal,

The Mountain View, California-based company applied for the patent in October 2013, with the assistance of Shumaker & Sieffert P.A. of Woodbury, Minnesota.

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Trade Secrets/Industrial Espionage

Appeals Court Dismisses Case, Says Alleged Theft Not in U.S.

In a trade-secrets dispute involving the construction of a sewer system in the Republic of Ghana’s Accra region, a federal appeals court said it doesn’t have jurisdiction over the case and that a lower court properly dismissed it.

The suit began in March 2013. TJGEM LLC of St. Louis claims that after it had invested its intellectual property in plans for the development of a sewer system, Ghanaian officials attempted to solicit bribes in order to go ahead with the project.

After TJGEM refused to pay bribes, the project came to naught, the Missouri company said in its pleadings. It accused the Republic of Ghana and the mayor of Accra of misappropriating “confidential, privileged and valuable” proprietary work product business plan and sewer redevelopment model to their own use and economic benefit and to the economic detriment of TJGEM.

The company accused the mayor and the Republic of Ghana of handing over its confidential business information to Conti Construction Co. of South Plainfield, New Jersey, which then signed an agreement to go ahead with the sewer project.

TJGEM claimed its losses exceeded $405 billion and sought to recover them through its suit.

In December 2013, the trial court dismissed the case, after which TJGEM filed an appeal.

In its June 9 ruling, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said the lower court acted properly. It said that while TJGEM claimed that the misappropriation of its trade secrets occurred in the U.S., there was no evidence given to support that claim. The “commercial activity” at issue took place in Ghana, and, the court said, TJGEM failed to provide it had any direct effect on the U.S.

The case is TJGEM LLC v. Republic of Ghana, 145-7036, U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The lower-court case is TJGEM LLC v. Republic of Ghana, 1:13- cv-00382, U.S. District Court, District of Columbia (Washington).

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Trademark

Glaxo Leads in 2014 Application for U.K. Domestic Trademarks

The U.S. led all foreign countries in the number of applications for domestic trademarks filed in the U.K. last year, according to a report from the U.K. Intellectual Property Office.

There were 1,203 trademark applications filed from U.S. companies and 1,111 trademarks registered, according to the report. The U.K. accounted for 46,383 applications for domestic trademarks and 37,845 registrations.

Major foreign filers include China, with 475 applications, and 401 registrations; Hong Kong, with 203 applications and 202 registered trademarks; and France, from which 189 applications were filed, and for which 173 marks were registered.

The U.K.’s Glaxo Group Ltd. was the single largest corporate filer, with 281 applications filed in 2014. British American Tobacco Ltd. came in second, filing 115 applications that year. With 97 applications filed in 2014, London’s bVipr, an intellectual-property marketplace, came in third, according to the report.

Eat’n Park Sues Chicago Snack Company Over Smiley Face Cookies

Eat’n Park Hospitality Group Inc., a seller of prepared foods, sued a Chicago snack producer for trademark infringement.

At issue is the “smiley face” trademark Eat’n Park has been selling since 1987 under its “Smiley” trademark.

According to court papers, the smiling face is the symbol of Pittsburgh-based Eat’n Park, and the company claims that sales of similar cookies by Chicago American Sweets & Snacks Inc. will confuse customers and cause the Pennsylvania company harm.

Eat’n Park asked the court for an order for the destruction of all allegedly infringing products and promotional materials, as well as a ban on future infringement. The company also seeks money damages, including all profit derived from the alleged infringement, as well as attorney fees and litigation costs.