With the latest update of iOS, Apple has started following a rather ‘intrusive’ policy in getting their customers on board their Apple Pay platform. Apple hopes to bring its current $28B Apple Pay business to $40B by the end of fiscal year 2020. A recent study reveals that digital payments are expected to hit $726B by 2020. Although a majority of Americans still prefer carrying the good old stash of cash, with more and more options available for making the switch to digital payments easier, the adoption of cashless transactions is on a steady rise. In 2008, Apple took the mobile industry by surprise with a patent application that talked about the use of a fingerprint sensor embedded into a mobile device which could be used for authentication purposes. It was speculated at that time that this would revolutionize the way with interact with and use our gadgets, and there would be no better time than now to validate this statement. Apple’s Touch ID fueled the foundation of Apple Pay. The first and foremost challenge to get people to use an ‘app’ for payments is to promise security. To implement it, Apple needed something literally out of the box. It wasn’t possible to achieve this level of security with a software-only solution, and hence Apple created the Secure Enclave. Secure Enclave is a co-processor fabricated into Apple T1, S2, S3, A7 and later processors. It uses encrypted memory and includes a hardware random number generator. It is the heart of Apple’s security system which enables the secure use of Apple Pay. The security architecture in Secure Enclave is rock solid, mostly because it is hardware-based. It would require a huge amount of hardware-level penetration to even attempt to access the data encrypted and stored within the Secure Enclave. Apple talks about its now well-known Apple Pay in a US patent application that dates back to 2008. The invention that Apple disclosed back then outlined a wireless peer to peer financial transaction method which used NFC for communication between two devices. Apple Pay comes built into the core of iOS and enables users to make payments using their existing debit and credit cards via their phone. It uses NFC (Near Field Communication), the same technology used by all contactless payment providers, although Apple does boast a lot about their top-of-the-line security standards, which in theory, should attract more users. The main component of Apple Pay is the Secure Element. It is a certified chip running the Java Card platform and complies with financial industry requirements for electronic payments. During an NFC transaction, the data routed using a dedicated hardware bus between the NFC controller and the Secure Element. No data is transferred through the application processor, hence making the system secure. Even when the data must go through the application processor (for example, for in-app purchases, online shopping etc.) the data is encrypted by the Secure Element and then routed to the application processor for payment authorization at the point of sale. Apple Pay in itself is not a payment provider. It only acts as a gateway between your bank/card issuer and the merchant with whom you wish to transact. Credit/Debit/Prepaid cards can be added to your Apple Pay in order to make seamless payments. The beauty of the ecosystem is that full card numbers are never stored. Not even on Apple servers or on the device. Instead, a Device Account Number is created, encrypted and stored in the Secure Element. This is a unique number for all your cards and payment methods and is never sent to the cloud. It always remains encrypted inside the Secure Element. Another US patent application by Apple hints at the above discussed method of using a Device Account Number (a non-native credential, as discussed in the patent) for authorizing a payment between a merchant and a host device. Cards can be added to Apple Pay either manually, from iTunes account or from the card issuer’s app. For adding a card manually, the card number, expiration date and CVV are used. The CVV is verified at the Apple Pay servers. Anytime a user wishes to make a payment, at either an NFC enabled Point of Sale, or in an online transaction, it must be authorized by the user, at his own device. This can be done by using either Face ID (facial recognition on iPhone X), Touch ID (fingerprint recognition on previous iPhones) or passcode verification, if the former are not available. On Apple Watch, a double tap on the side button enables payments after unlocking the device by entering a passcode. The authentication process occurs entirely at the Secure Enclave, so the NFC controller can be alerted about the authorization directly, without the involvement of the application processor. For added security, along with the Device Account Number which is stored in the Secure Element, a transaction specific dynamic security code is also stored. This one time code is computed from a counter which is incremented for each new transaction, and a key provisioned in the payment applet during personalization and is known by the card issuer/bank. Hence, whenever a contactless payment is attempted, the Device Account Number and the transaction-specific dynamic security code are used when processing the payment. The card number or other card details are never transmitted. For in-app purchases, an API is used to determine whether the device supports Apple Pay or not. Upon confirmation of availability, the app requests from iOS the Apple Pay Sheet, which requests information for the app, as well as other necessary information such as which card to use. The information is provided to the app once the payment attempt is authorized by the user using Face ID/Touch ID/Passcode. A similar process is followed when paying on the web. An Apple provided TLS certificate is used to prove the authenticity of the website, and the entire transaction takes place over HTTPS. Once the merchant is validated and Apple Pay support is confirmed at the user’s end, the process of authorization can take place the same way as it does in the case of in-app purchases. Another very attractive feature that Apple Pay has to offer is the Apple Pay Cash. This allows a user to send/receive money to and from other Apple users. Green Dot Bank and Apple Payments Inc. together bring this feature to life. Money requests and transfers can even be initiated using iMessage or even Siri, Apple’s digital personal assistant. Your Apple Pay Cash is essentially your own digital wallet. It stores cash in itself, which can be directly used for making payments, or sending money to other users. When the user sends money with Apple Pay, adds money to an Apple Pay Cash account, or transfers money to a bank account, a call is made to the Apple Pay Servers to obtain a cryptographic nonce, which is similar to the value returned for Apple Pay within apps. The nonce, along with other transaction data, is passed to the Secure Element to generate a payment signature. When the payment signature comes out of the Secure Element, it’s passed to the Apple Pay Servers. The authentication, integrity, and correctness of the transaction is verified via the payment signature and the nonce by Apple Pay Servers. Money transfer is then initiated and the user is notified of transaction completion. Huge data breaches containing credit card numbers of millions of users have been hitting the headlines multiple times every year for the past decade. While all this is going on, the approach used by Apple to not even store credit card details of users might just be THE solution for avoiding even more potential losses. Apple has avoided any security infiltration so far, which does give its users a sense of trust and allows them to freely use Apple’s services by providing their sensitive information. The big question is, can (or will) the financial industry move towards implementing the backbone approach of Apple Pay as the default process for consumer transactions – or will it remain proprietary to the Apple ecosystem? References https://www.wsj.com/articles/apple-insists-iphone-users-enroll-in-apple-pay-with-a-red-badge-that-wont-go-away-1522753200 https://www.capgemini.com/service/world-payments-report-2017-from-capgemini-and-bnp-paribas/ http://appft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?OS=20090083850&RS=20090083850&Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&co1=AND&d=PG01&f=G&l=50&p=1&r=1&s1=20090083850&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html https://support.apple.com/en-in/guide/security/welcome/web Rahul is a seasoned IP Professional with 10 years of experience working closely with senior litigators on patent infringement and trade secret misappropriation. Rahul has a Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi and is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP). He has advised clients on more than 100 technology cases cumulatively resulting in over $1 billion in settlements and verdicts, including cases where he has testified at deposition or through expert reports. #apple #applepay #cryptography #fintech #electronics #licensing #patents #software

If we run a mobile app that collects personal information from us then that app needs a privacy policy to comply with legislation around the world. Even if that app doesn't directly collect personal data, it may still need a privacy policy if it utilizes a third-party tool like Google Analytics to collect data on its behalf. Personal data can take many forms which can include the user's name, email address, telephone number, or physical address. There can also be less obvious types of data like IP addresses, log data, and information collected through cookies. There are many privacy laws around the world that set forth requirements if an app collects or uses personal data. The United States is one of the few countries without a policy at the national or federal level mandating a privacy policy. However, the California Online Privacy Protection Act (CalOPPA) states “if your app or website collects personally identifiable data from residents of the state of California, you must have a Privacy Policy.” Given that it is most likely that your website/app could be used by a resident of California regardless of where you are in the world, CalOPPA ends up having a wide reach. Introduced in 2018, the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is one of the strongest laws to protect the personal information of individuals and also has a global reach. Decoding Privacy/Security A recent announcement by WhatsApp was about a new privacy policy that would see a change in how its parent company, Facebook, collects data from its 2-billion user accounts. WhatsApp’s new privacy policy hints that the app will collect a lot of data, and it will be shared with Facebook, which doesn’t have a good track record of handling user data. Due to privacy concerns, this has resulted in a surge of downloads of alternative communication apps. 1. WhatsApp - The app collects a lot of user data including device ID, usage data of how we use the app, our payment history on the app, location, contact information, diagnostics of the app, advertising data, and user content data. The overall change in WhatsApp’s new privacy policy is about the data which will now be shared with Facebook and other Facebook companies. This data can be used by Facebook for more targeted advertising or for selling it to other companies/businesses. Without end-to-end encryption in WhatsApp, your message may be encrypted while it’s being transmitted to the server, but the server might be able to read it. For example, some service providers might do this to generate ads that are more specific to a user. WhatsApp uses the Signal protocol (formerly known as the TextSecure Protocol) for encryption, which uses a combination of asymmetric and symmetric key cryptographic algorithms. It is a non-federated cryptographic protocol that can be used to provide end-to-end encryption for voice calls, video calls, and instant messaging conversations. The protocol was developed by Open Whisper Systems in 2013 and was first introduced in the open-source TextSecure app, which later became Signal. The protocol combines the Double Ratchet algorithm, prekeys, and a triple Elliptic-curve Diffie–Hellman (3-DH) handshake, and uses Curve25519, AES-256, and HMAC-SHA256 as primitives. The Signal protocol uses a ratchet system that changes the key after every message. When someone sends a message to contact over an app using the Signal protocol, the app combines the temporary and permanent pairs of public and private keys for both users to create a shared secret key that's used to encrypt and decrypt that message. Since generating this secret key requires access to the users' private keys, it exists only on their two devices. And the Signal protocol's system of temporary keys—which it constantly replenishes for each user—allows it to generate a new shared key after every message. 2. Signal - It has emerged as one of the top alternatives to WhatsApp recently, with WhatsApp's updated privacy policy causing outrage on the Internet. Signal is an encrypted app that lets you send messages and make calls via the Internet. Its developers claim that Signal doesn’t collect any data linked to the user and the only personal data it stores and collects is the user’s phone number, and it makes no attempt to link that to your identity. Therefore, it means that Signal doesn’t have any access to your personal data and hence, it can’t use any information for targeted advertising or for selling it to other companies/businesses. Signal also uses end-to-end encryption for communication between its users. One should note that Signal's encryption algorithm isn't proprietary or even unique. The encryption software used by Signal is open-source (and used by other messaging apps, including WhatsApp) and available for download on GitHub. This actually allows Signal to be more secure because the open-source software is subject to public scrutiny by developers and security experts. 3. Facebook Messenger - Facebook Messenger which is Facebook’s in-built messaging service, collects more details from the users. While WhatsApp claims to identify the approximate location of the users, Facebook Messenger collects the exact location. It even reads into their browsing and search history which is why Facebook users often get ads related to products they might have searched for or bought recently. The data collected by Facebook Messenger includes precise location, coarse location, physical address, email address, name, phone number, other user contact info, contacts, photos or videos, gameplay content, other user content, search history, browsing history, user id, device id, third-party advertising, purchase history, financial info, product interaction, advertising data, other usage data, crash data, performance data, other diagnostic data, other data types, advertising or marketing, health, fitness, payment info, sensitive info, product personalization, credit info, other financial info, emails or text messages. In the case of Facebook Messenger, by default, the messages shared between the users aren't protected by end-to-end encryption which means that Facebook, law enforcement, and hackers all have potential access to the content of your communication. To use end-to-end encryption the users have to go out of their way and enable the Secret Conversations feature provided by Facebook. Secret Conversations feature also uses Signal Protocol for encryption of messages. 4. iMessage - iMessage is an Apple service that sends messages over Wi-Fi or cellular connections to other iOS devices, iPad devices, Mac computers, and Apple Watches. As compared to WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, iMessage collects a lot less user data. That data includes email address, phone number, search history, and device ID. Apple claims that it uses this data to operate and improve Apple’s products and services. Apple’s iMessage also provides end-to-end encryption, but one should note that this feature is available only for the Apple user community and as iMessage users can also message beyond that community, and sometimes a data network may not be available, in that case, iMessage can revert to SMS when needed and when it does so, there is no end-to-end encryption. Also, unlike other popular messaging apps iMessage doesn’t use Signal protocol, and it is believed that it doesn't offer perfect forward secrecy. 5. Telegram - Telegram is a freeware, cross-platform, cloud-based instant messaging software and application service. The service also provides end-to-end encrypted video calling, VoIP, file sharing, and some other features. After WhatsApp’s new privacy policy, Telegram has also become one of the alternatives people are looking at for switching from WhatsApp. It also collects a lot less data than WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger and the limited data that it collects include contact info, contacts, and user ID. Telegram mentions that it can share our personal data with other Telegram users, Telegram’s group companies, and law enforcement authorities. Just like Facebook Messenger, by default, Telegram also doesn’t encrypt messages shared between the users. It provides a feature called Secret Chat for users who want their conversation to be encrypted and secured. Messages in Secret Chats use client-client encryption, while Cloud Chats use client-server/server-client encryption and are stored encrypted in the Telegram Cloud. Telegram uses MTProto protocol for encryption of messages in Secret Chats. When a secret chat is created, the participating devices exchange encryption keys using the so-called Diffie-Hellman key exchange. 6. Snapchat. Snapchat is a popular messaging app that lets users exchange pictures and videos that are meant to disappear after they're viewed. Snapchat’s privacy policy states that it collects 3 basic categories of information: Information we choose to give them such as our username, a password, email address, our phone number, and date of birth; The information they get when we use their services such as usage info, content info, device info, device phone book, camera and photos, location info, cookies, and log info; The information they get from third parties. The terms say that Snapchat does not sell personal information to third parties, but the terms do state that Snapchat and third-party partners may place advertising on the services. Snapchat provides end-to-end encryption as well, but one should note that this encryption is only for the photos shared between its users. Text messages and other messages sent on Snapchat aren’t protected by the same encryption. Conclusion With social media’s unparalleled popularity, they have evolved from platforms for social communication and news dissemination, to indispensable tools for professional networking, social recommendations, marketing, and online content distribution. Because of their scale, complexity, and heterogeneity, many technical and social challenges in online social networks must be taken into consideration. It has been widely recognized that security and privacy are critical issues in online social networks. This special issue focuses on how researchers, scholars, and practitioners are collaborating to address security and privacy research challenges. Every social media application offers a varied set of security features and has a different policy on how they collect and use the user’s personal data. It depends on the users how much they are willing to give up their personal information or whether they are ready if someone ends up reading our personal messages knowingly or unknowingly. References https://www.privacypolicies.com/blog/mobile-apps-privacy-policy/ https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/06/18/why-do-we-care-so-much-about-privacy https://www.iol.co.za/technology/mobile/whatsapp-vs-telegram-vs-signal-comparing-privacy-policies--82fcb7b7-fe8d-496a-846c-3baaba58eef2 https://www.indiatoday.in/technology/talking-points/story/moved-to-signal-good-now-take-a-look-at-facebook-instagram-and-chrome-on-your-phone-1758293-2021-01-12 https://support.apple.com/en-in/HT209110 https://telegram.org/privacy https://snap.com/en-US/privacy/privacy-policy https://privacy.commonsense.org/privacy-report/Snapchat https://faq.whatsapp.com/general/security-and-privacy/end-to-end-encryption/?lang=en https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/how-to/is-signal-secure-how-the-encrypted-messaging-app-compares-to-other-apps-on-privacy-protection/articleshow/78707122.cms https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT207006 https://core.telegram.org/api/end-to-end https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-whatsapp-uses-end-encryption-ashish-bijawat/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signal_Protocol https://www.wired.com/story/signal-encryption-protocol-hacker-lexicon/ Uday is a research analyst at Copperpod. He has a Bachelor's degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering. His interest areas are Microcontrollers, IoT, Semiconductors, and Memory Devices.

2017 was undoubtedly a most interesting year for politics and media. POTUS Donald J. Trump continued to make all kinds (often the wrong kind) of headlines for his tirades against inaccurate journalism and misinformation. Across the world in India too, misinformation and inaccurate (and quite often even maliciously untruthful) journalism started to impact elections, popular morale and the effectiveness of governmental initiatives. "Fake News" hence became such a household term around the world that U.K. based Collins Dictionary chose "Fake News" as its 2017 Word of the Year. “Fake news, either as a statement of fact or as an accusation, has been inescapable this year, contributing to the undermining of society’s trust in news reporting,” said Helen Newstead, Collins’ head of language content. While the term has indeed been popularized by politicians and statesman over the last 2 years, fake news has of course been around (and been a problem) for as long as we have had politics, media, warfare or civilization itself. The great Indian epic Mahabharata tells a war story where the Pandavas willfully propagated a fake news of the warrior Ashwathama's death (when it was in fact an elephant also named Ashwathama who had been killed) in order to rattle and ultimately defeat the opposing general Dronacharya of the Kauravas. In ancient Egypt, though his architectural achievements were remarkable on their own, Pharaoh Ramses II and his supporters greatly exaggerated his military achievements when documenting his reign (1279-1213 BCE) on inscriptions – leading later historians to misunderstand and “over-assume” the course of Egyptian westward expansion into Libya and surrounding areas. Roman emperor Augustus spread fake news to malign Mark Antony (alleging Antony had denounced his Roman religion, ethos and heritage in favor of an Egyptian one and even intended to be Ptolemized as a Pharaoh) in the eyes of Roman society - and popularize the assault against Cleopatra. Early Christian history too is abundant in stories of the Catholic Church propagating fake news about practices of pagans, Jews and even other opposing schools of Christian thought. The early Church in fact fabricated a document now known as the “Donation of Constantine” alleging that Emperor Constantine had transferred land and political control to the Pope and used the document to justify the Church’s political, administrative, fiscal and moral control over large tracts of land. It was similarly not uncommon in non-Christian societies to hear of barbaric Christian rituals, including priestly cannibalism, necrophilia and sodomy. Rulers around the world from antiquity to the modern era, have relied on fake news and propaganda as an important tool for garnering popular (and financial) support for their military and political campaigns. Benjamin Franklin was guilty of fabricating a whole newspaper worth of propaganda alleging, with gruesome detail, Native American support for the English crown. In World War 1, the Allied Powers popularized the notion of a German Corpse Factory (Kadaververwertungsanstalt) that Germans supposedly used to turn dead bodies from warzones to nitroglycerine, candles, lubricants, and boot dubbin. In World War 2, Great Britain instituted the Political Warfare Executive (PWE) for creating and spreading false anti-German propaganda to further mobilize their citizens against the Axis powers. In much the same way fake news spreads on the Internet today, the PWE delivered fake propaganda (and even real-time reporting of non-existent bombing raids) embedded within reliable news and information on events in Germany and other German-occupied areas, making it impossible to the public (and in some cases, even historians today) to determine what was real and what was fabricated. The media in Axis-held areas similarly also disseminated fake news about Jews in particular, societies and politics of the Allied powers in general, as well as military campaigns throughout the war in much the same way. Fake news has no less impact in our political and social life today. With the advent and proliferation of new media (read the Internet), it has become increasingly easy for agenda-driven individuals and institutions to propagate fake news. All it takes is one piece of false content to be placed in the right forum and the human need to disperse and share sensational information can make it the accepted truth overnight. The key inflexion point in the process is the choosing or being the "right forum" - which is where even institutions become willing or unwilling perpetrators. With online advertising, it has also become increasingly profitable for agenda-driven institutions of our media to become the "right forum" - a media institution for example is inherently incentivized to publish fake content since it will increase inbound traffic (and thus advertising revenues). In a 24 hour news environment, the audience tends to have a short enough memory span to forget (and forgive) journalistic lapses even if the fake content is later proven to be fake and/or is simply redacted. Yet, whether or not you agree with politicians and public discourse on their characterization on what is fake news, fake news and content does irreparable harm to public policy, public safety and general discourse on important issues of our day. It widens disagreements, causes public policy decisions to be impulsive, and some might argue, cause general discontent and stress in the society. At the very least, it distracts the conversation away from issues that really matter - poverty, hunger, inequality and irreparable harm to the environment. Necessity is of course the mother of invention. Several people have recognized that in the new media at least, while it is algorithmically easier to propagate fake news, it is algorithmically easier to detect and counter fake news as well. See below for just a few examples: US20170177717A1, “Rating a level of journalistic distortion in news and media content” Journalistic distortion is the inclusion of distortion in news media content in the form of incorrect facts, support for an agenda or bias, political or other external influence etc. The patent discloses a method to provide a rating to news articles that indicated the level of distortion in it. It works by selecting the first news article from a plurality of news sources, analyses it via a stored algorithm and calculates a rating according to predefined categories. These categories include incorrect facts, bias, spin, slant, influence etc. The rating is then accumulated for all categories and the final rating is delivered the user’s device who wishes to access the news content. The algorithm uses multiple dictionaries which contain keywords that indicate distortion of some kind. The analysis is performed in four tiers: individual words, phrases and sentences, paragraphs and the article as a whole. The analysis keeps proceeding onto the next tier in order find the accurate rating. For example, concepts which involve sarcasm or irony may not be detected at an initial tier and may need to be analyzed on a higher tier. EP2937824A9, “System and method for evaluating the credibility of news emerging in social networks for information and news reporting purposes” The invention evaluates the quality of news emerging from social networks. Presently, such analysis made on users and the content posted by users over a narrow domain of metrics, which can quantify only a particular category at a time. The system improves upon it and enables analysis over a broad domain of metrics. The metrics apply to both the users of social media services as well as the content written/shared by them. The system is named “AlethioMeter” and includes an NLP engine used to extract sentiment from content available online and a Network Analytics Engine which performs calculations to assign a score to the social media data. In fact, a total of 35 metrics are discussed which fall in the following three pillars. Contributor: Reputation, History, Popularity, Influence, Presence of source of the post. Content: Reputation (of links included), History (of links included), Originality (of multimedia included), Authenticity (of multimedia included), Proximity (of multimedia included) in the content of the post. Context: Co-occurrences about the same thing on other sources, internal and external coherence with tags, attached links and multimedia, location from where the post was written compared to the location mentioned on the post itself. Finally, an index value is computed from all the metrics that quantifies the quality of the content being scrutinized. US9186514, “Optimized Fact Checking Method and System” The patent teaches a fact checking system that determines the factual validity, accuracy and quality of an article through context comparison, pattern matching and natural language comparison. It uses lexical chaining to summarize the article and utilizes social network information of the user to determine the focus of the article and predefined templates in order to summarize the article and fact check the article, the summary or both. CA2984904A1, “Social Media Events Detection and Verification” The patent describes a method to detect and verify social media events, wherein useful information is received from social media data via an Event Detecting Server (EDS). The key components of the EDS include modules for Ingestion, Filtering, Organization, Clustering, Verification, Categorization, Summarization, News-Worthiness, Opinion and Credibility. The Ingestion module retrieves the information from a social media platform and stores it with associated metadata into an ingested data store of EPS. The Filtering module based on language and profanity removes the inappropriate data. It may also use a classification algorithm to remove data classified as spam, chat or advertisements. The Organization module then fetches the filtered data from filtered data store to determine key concepts which are then organised into a database by the Clustering module. The Verification module then determines the level of accuracy of the event detected cluster by generating a veracity calculation based on: user, tweet level or social media data level. The Categorization module categorizes the data collected by event cluster module in the topics such as sports, entertainment, business, finance etc. The Summarization module selects a unit of data, based on metrics such as popular unit data, to be added as a summary to the metadata for particular event detected cluster. The News-Worthiness module uses Machine Learning algorithm to generate newsworthiness score. The Opinion module detects if the each unit data contains opinion of a person or assertion of fact. The Credibility module generates confidence score based on three components: source credibility, cluster credibility and tweet credibility. Source Credibility determine the authentication of source, Cluster Credibility determines whether information is genuine or fake based on historic data and Tweet Credibility relates to the contents of individual tweets. US 2017/0195125, “Promoting Learned Discourse in Online Media with Consideration of Sources and Provenance” The invention evaluates the authenticity of news or comments posted on a forum server and awarding a digital portable certificate for users that are committed and have been well established in writing or posting news on particular forum. A method for hashing, encrypting and digitally sign the comments or news from a well-established user is used to protect the user’s reputation as well as to ease the process of citation of their content by others. The host site uses the automated content analyst which relies on relevance, uniqueness, and sentiment/ keyword extraction. The host site uses the bibliographic date to retrieve the public key of the indicated source, and uses that public key to verify that the cited material is authentic. Whenever the host site receives a comment or news it is submitted to automated content analysis filter. To further evaluate the authenticity of news, a veracity content analysis filter checks for the presence of hashed material that can be verified by processing with a public key. The host site can maintain (or periodically acquire) its own white lists and black lists, and provide warning services to its users (readers and viewers) in addition to inputs for its overall scoring function. Further, various methods may be used to track user performance and reward users that generate high quality comments with enhanced status. Comment quality can be judged according to a priori score, a posteriori score, or the post moderation score. Conclusion: While any of the above (or even all of the above combined) may not fully be able to rid the public discourse of fake news, these are good beginnings for restoring public confidence in our news and content. Gartner projects that "[by] 2022, the majority of individuals in mature economies will consume more false information than true information". Hopefully for the sake of all of us, Gartner will be proven wrong just this time. #fakenews #journalism #donaldtrump #patents

On November 18, 2016, PayPal Inc. filed an objection at the Indian Trademark Office accusing Paytm of trademark infringement, an Indian mobile wallet company. The objection comes at the heels of the recent windfall made by the latter on account of a cash-strapped nation moving rapidly towards a cashless normal. For six years, Paytm had been steadily becoming a household name in middle-class India – until it really hit the jackpot on November 8, 2016 when the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced demonetization of currency notes of Rs. 500 and Rs. 1000 – invalidating overnight 80% of the country’s cash in circulation. The drastic move was taken to tackle the vast amounts of unaccounted “black” money in the Indian economy that was being used for bribery, corruption, tax evasion and for funding separatists and terrorists – and has since invoked strong emotions, both in favor and against, from the media, politicos and citizens across the country. A direct consequence to the demonetization has been an unprecedented increase in electronic transactions – with Paytm being at the forefront. Adding over half a million users a day, Paytm saw its daily transactions grow from 2.5 million to over 7 million a day and a 10-fold increase in the amount of money added to Paytm accounts in the first 14 days after the demonetization was announced. Rapid growth in that short a time earns Paytm not only great profits and valuation, but also the attention of global competitors like PayPal. In its complaint, PayPal accused Paytm of having “slavishly adopted the two-tone blue colour scheme” of PayPal’s own logo in entirety, and especially where “The first syllable in each mark is in dark blue colour and the second syllable in a light blue colour”. Further, PayPal also noted that “both marks begin with the term ‘PAY’ which consumers tend to remember more than the second syllable, with the marks being of similar length.” The Indian Trade Marks Act (1999) requires an applicant to publish and advertise their logo for a period of 4 months in which objections can be raised by third parties. Paytm applied for a trademark registration on July 18, 2016 – which means its four month window expired on November 18, 2016. PayPal’s last-day complaint has thus raised many an eyebrow on why a company like PayPal – with ample legal resources at hand – would wait right until the end of the window to file the complaint. Needless to say, it was only after the demonetization that PayPal felt threatened (read jealous) by the rise of Paytm in a market that until now has been ignored, underserved and/or underperformed by PayPal. It must be noted that PayPal had not registered its own trademark in India until after the demonetization – a fact that Paytm’s lawyer will undoubtedly cite at trial. Notwithstanding the timing and PayPal’s motivations, the complaint and the subject matter do raise a few important points: 1. Is Paytm and PayPal branding similar? The names PayPal and Paytm are similar to the extent both start with the world “Pay” – however given that both companies operate in the electronic transactions space, PayPal would have a tough time winning the argument based on just the word “Pay” in the name. In fact, there is precedent strongly in favor of Paytm here. In Micronix India vs Mr. J.R. Kapoor, for example, the Supreme Court observed that micro-chip technology being the basis of many of the electronic products, the word "micro" has much relevance in describing the products and therefore no one can claim monopoly over the use of the said word. Applying the same logic in this case, the word “Pay” has little distinctive relevance in the market to which PayPal and Paytm cater. PayPal’s stronger argument lies in the use of a similar color combination. Even a brief look at the two logos betrays that similarity between the two. The color tones while not identical – are undoubtedly similar – the first syllable is a darker shade of blue while the second syllable is light blue. Technically, the Paytm logo uses color codes #042e6f (dark blue) and #00baf2 (light blue) while PayPal uses #002d8b (dark blue) and #009be1 (light blue) – so one could argue that the colors are not exactly identical. The difference is more easily seen if you compare just the colors side by side. It will remain to be seen if the difference is big enough for consumers and more importantly for the court. 2. Can colors or color combinations be trademarked in India? The Indian Trademark Law does protect colors to the extent the colors or combination of colors confer a distinctive characteristic to a product or service. Schedule 10 of the Trade Marks Act, 1999, pertains specifically to use of colors: (1) A trade mark may be limited wholly or in part to any combination of colours and any such limitation shall be taken into consideration by the tribunal having to decide on the distinctive character of the trade mark. (2) So far as a trade mark is registered without limitation of colour, it shall be deemed to be registered for all colours. PayPal will undoubtedly argue that the differences in the two sets of colors is minimal and inconsequential to the consumer’s eye – an ordinary consumer will not be able to discern the difference and naturally confuse between the two logos. This approach gives more weight to the overall look and feel of the brand – and at least partly abandons the question on whether PayPal has a trademark right over use of the particular colors. It also opens up the discussion to whether the whole package – name, font and colors – used by Paytm and PayPal are similar enough for ordinary consumers in India to be deceived into buying the wrong product. 3. Does Paytm deceive consumers away from PayPal? Consumer perception can be a tricky territory for PayPal, especially after Paytm’s customer base increased manifold over the last six weeks. The key question the court would deliberate on is: Would an ordinary consumer intending to use PayPal be confused into using Paytm instead? The fact of the matter is that ordinary consumers like regular workers, grocers and Uber drivers use and hear the word Paytm all day every day – most of which would not even know about PayPal. PayPal’s foray into India has been limited largely to eBay shoppers, freelancers and IT software developers that are exposed to global economy much more than the ordinary consumer – which means that if PayPal and/or Paytm were to conduct a survey, it would likely result strongly in favor of Paytm. However, had PayPal chosen to file a trademark infringement lawsuit before the demonetization move was announced (or perhaps anytime in 2011-2014) when Paytm had not yet established its household name status, it would have been a much easier battle (albeit also bearing much less rewards). PayPal would however be much better placed to win this dispute in virtually any other country (if and when Paytm expands its operations in those countries) – where PayPal still is recognized as a global payments leader. #trademarks #fintech #paypal #paytm #news

"The nation that leads in renewable energy will be the nation that leads the world" - James Cameron Our demand for energy keeps escalating. The energy sources we depend on currently for heating our homes and fueling our vehicles are choking up the environment by releasing harmful carbon dioxide into it. It’s the need of the hour that we reduce our dependence on the dirty fossil fuels of the past and shift to alternate sources of energy, the development of which will assist in the protection of the environment. HyperSolar inc. a company headquartered in Santa Barbara, California has been granted patent no CN107075695B, entitled “The artificial photosynthetic battery of more knots of with raising” by the China National Intellectual Property Administration. The patent comes as a result of HyperSolar inc.’s collaboration with the University of California, Santa Barbara, and is jointly held by both. HyperSolar previously developed the HyperSolar Gen 1, a technology based on an integrated photoelectrochemical water-splitting device. The device is a solar hydrogen generator that safely separates hydrogen and oxygen. Commercially available silicon solar cells are immersed in water and enclosed in HyperSolar’s proprietary generator. The front side of the solar cell is coated with HyperSolar’s proprietary catalysts for oxidizing water into oxygen, whereas the back side is coated with hydrogen catalysts that reduces protons into hydrogen. The ‘95 patent talks about the company’s second generation (Gen 2) proprietary design of an independent high-voltage solar hydrogen production device constituting of billions of nanoparticles. The nanoparticle is structured as an autonomous nano-solar cell with catalysts that split water into oxygen and hydrogen. Billions of such nano solar cells are encapsulated in an array inside a square centimeter protective layer that increase the photovoltages (Electromotive force developed by a photosensitive device as a result of an incident radiant energy) of the nanoparticles which results in a higher solar-to-hydrogen efficiency. The nano-sized design of the structure improves the performance of the solar cells by increasing its light collecting capacity. The sub-wavelength ( used to describe an object having dimensions less than the length of the wave it interacts with) nano-structure also results in smaller reflection losses and better light manipulation and/or trapping at sub-wavelength scale. In its completion, this innovation would serve as the company’s flagship product in their line of hydrogen production units. The light absorbing capacity of the nanoparticle solar cells is high, and can be produced at a lower cost than what it would take to produce the traditional film solar cells. Another advantage of nanoparticles solar cells is that they can be produced through the conventional roll-to-roll process (a process in which electronic devices are created on a roll of flexible plastic or metal foil) which is more cost effective as compared to manufacturing the conventional solar cells. China dominates the global market for battery powered electric vehicles, and are seeking to be pioneers in hydrogen fueled vehicles as well. In a press conference that took place on March 15, 2019, China’s State Council had proposed to promote the development and construction of fueling stations for hydrogen fuel-cell cars. In contrast to batteries, fuel cells generate electricity when hydrogen interacts with oxygen. The on-board hydrogen tanks used to power the automobile are both lighter, and can hold more energy than a battery. The refueling method remains the same as of the traditional internal combustion engines, taking just minutes for topping the tank, as opposed to battery driven cars that take hours to charge. The hydrogen fueled cars however, have their own set of challenges that need to be dealt with. Fuel cells are the most expensive components of the car, which is why the hydrogen powered cars could cost up to 7 times more than what you’ll be paying for a battery driven car under the same segment. While hydrogen is considered to be among the cleaner burning fuels available in the market today, it’s important that we understand that the process used to generate the hydrogen need not be necessary clean. Hydrogen is often generated from fossil fuels including coal, which again is problematic, given that the whole reason why we are exploring alternative fuels is to reduce carbon levels in the environment. This explains why HyperSolar’s patent is so important. It describes a low cost technology to make environment friendly renewable hydrogen using sunlight and any source of water (including seawater and wastewater). Today, the world produces almost 50 million tonnes of hydrogen every year, but most of it is produced with the help of fossil fuels, either from reforming natural gas, or electrolysis using electricity produced from petroleum, natural gas, coal, or nuclear. To truly realize its potential, we must produce hydrogen from renewable resources, and reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. #greentech #hypersolar #patents #china

Remember tokenized securities or securitization with tokens on the blockchain? With the entire year in crypto defined by a maelstrom of projects embarking on decentralized finance (DeFi) aspects to their products, it can be easy to forget that previous advancements in blockchain-based technologies have continued to make great headway in terms of adoption and application. Security tokens and tokenized securities In 2019 especially, with greater regulatory scrutiny on blockchain-based crowdfunding in the shape of initial coin offerings (ICOs), many projects sought to reconcile crypto’s much-maligned aspect of democratic fundraising with increasingly unforgiving regulatory compliance. Hence the proliferation of Security Token Offerings (STOs) that meant to replace ICOs as legitimate, law-abiding instruments to raise funds and issue securities through blockchain-based tokens. It’s important here to distinguish between security tokens and tokenized securities -- often used interchangeably, but hardly the same thing. In the former, blockchain technology is used to create new tokens that are a representation of real-world “securities”, ie. crypto assets that share some qualities as securities in the traditional sense. In the latter, we are talking about existing assets (securities) in the real world, that is expressed digitally wrapped, if you will, in a token technology. An overlooked breakthrough Put in another way, security tokens create a token and create securities, but tokenized securities simply digitalize existing securities. That really is something that solves a major problem with traditional securities, which makes it somewhat surprising that it hasn’t been picked up more. Tokenizing securities immediately helps with widening the market and improving their liquidity. In addition, it’s not a new product so it isn’t so much something for regulators to look at, it simply is a new, digital channel for distribution, which actually makes tokenized securities simpler to approve. They’re not just an idea, they’re already here. Because tokenizing securities are comparatively simple to do, there actually have been quite a number of them entering the market. Last year, we saw traditional funds like 22X Fund put together a tokenized fund (with money raised through an ICO in fact in 2018) to invest in 22 startups. But SPiCE will argue it was even earlier, as the VC fund set up in 2017 and lays claim to being the first tokenized VC fund able to offer immediate liquidity for venture capital -- which otherwise takes years to liquidate! This year, AllianceBlock, which is building the “world’s first globally compliant decentralized capital market” partnered with another blockchain firm AIKON for a secure blockchain-based identity management service -- making decentralized finance services accessible to all, and securing that access with the blockchain. The data already shows that the coming years will see securities very soon fully digitized and empowered by blockchain. From owning a small share in your favorite soccer club, to fractional ownership of pizza restaurants in a country halfway around the world from you, blockchain and tokenized securities are spelling out a way for $256 trillion worth of real-world assets, mostly illiquid as physical representations, to go digital. As they say in blockchain, tokenized securities are a matter of when, not if. This article originally appeared on aikon.com

This Thanksgiving, we have almost too many blessings to count. Being able to work with our valuable clients is definitely one of them. We hope their blessings are also many, both this Thanksgiving and in the coming year.

Wireless connectivity is spurring a wave of digital transformation which is not just changing our way of working with IT, office tools, and administrative systems; but also paving the path for new business opportunities. One-to-one relations between vendors, suppliers, operators, and end users are being remade as ecosystems of partners and co-creators. This cross-industry transformation has led to the involvement of the concept of wireless connectivity for the fifth generation of mobile technology (5G), to enable new ways of defining performance monitoring and assurance as well as the quality of service and user experience. 5G includes the entire ecosystem of the IoT industry, cloud, internet services, digitalization, and supporting technology. Telecommunication networks, both fixed and mobile, are set to play an important role in the 5G era, ultimately providing the necessary low-latency connectivity to the internet. In telecommunications, LTE refers to Long Term Evolution and is a standard for wireless broadband communication between mobile devices and data terminals. It is based on GSM/EDGE and UMTS/HSPA technologies. The standard comprises some security standards known as the LTE security model. These security standards are used for providing integrity, confidentiality, and authenticity to mobile data and server data in the LTE network. The LTE security uses a shared secret key, K algorithm. In this, a unique secret key K (“master key”) is shared between service providers and their subscribers. It is called a master key because all other intermediate keys which are used in communication are derived from this key. The master key is kept by both the service provider and the subscriber and is not shared over the network. Both the service provider and the subscriber use the shared key K and some random numbers (which are shared initially before setup of connection) to derive intermediate keys which are used in secured communication in the different layers of the network. During the exchange of mobile data, these intermediate keys are used instead of the master key in encryption, authentication, and integrity in the LTE network and this network can be further divided into LTE radio network and LTE core network. LTE radio network includes elements such as UE and eNodeB while LTE core network includes elements such as MME/ASME and HSS. LTE (4G) network comprising LTE radio and LTE core network LTE security model comprises the following four major elements UE – It refers to User Equipment (UE) such as a user's mobile phone which is connected to eNodeB in the LTE radio network. eNodeB or eNB – It refers to Evolved Node B in the mobile phone network that communicates directly wirelessly with mobile handsets, like a base transceiver station in GSM networks. Its functions are ciphering packet reliable delivery and header compression. It is part of the LTE radio network and is further connected to MME. MME – It refers to Mobility Management Entity (MME), its function is to manage sessions, authentication, paging, mobility, bearers, and roaming. It is connected to HSS and is part of the LTE core network. Access Security Management Entity (ASME) is an entity connected to MME that receives top-level key(s) from HSS. The top-level key is used in an access network. In EPS, MME serves as ASME, and KASME is used as the top-level key to be used in the access network. The MME, on behalf of an HSS, conducts mutual authentication with a UE using the KASME key. HSS – It refers to Home Subscriber Server (HSS) and is a key element of the LTE network. It comprises a master user database that allows Communications Service Providers (CSPs) to manage customers in real-time and in a cost-effective manner. It stores the secret key K which is shared between mobile operators and their subscribers. HSS allows CSPs to perform specialized functions such as barring of certain services and functions, activation and deactivation of SIM cards, and the creation of hierarchical segregation of subscribers based on their subscriptions. It is part of the LTE core network. LTE network comprises two level of security Access Stratum (AS) security – This security is established in the Data Link Layer (layer 2) of the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) layers between UE and eNodeB. In this security, both UE and eNodeB use keys that are derived from the shared secret key K between the subscriber (UE) and nodes in the LTE radio network. Non-Access Stratum (NAS) security – This security is established in the Network Layer (layer 3) of the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) layers between UE and MME. In this security, both UE and MME use keys that are derived from the shared secret key K between the subscriber (UE) and nodes in the LTE core network. Types of traffics and keys in the LTE network NAS traffic - It refers to Non-Access Stratum (NAS) in which data packets are exchanged between UE and MME in the LTE core network. Keys used in this traffic are encryption key, KNASenc, and integrity key, KNASint. RRC traffic - It refers to Radio Resource Control (RRC) in which data packets are exchanged between eNodeB and UE. Keys used in this traffic are encryption key, KRRCenc, and integrity key, KRRCint. RRC messages are transported via Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) in the IP level (Layer 3/Network Layer) of the OSI model UP traffic - It refers to User Plane traffic in which data packets are exchanged between UE and eNodeB. UP traffic or application data packets in the user plane side are processed by protocols such as TCP, UDP, and IP. Keys used in this traffic are only encryption key, KUpenc, and no user side integrity key is used (limitation). Flow diagram of keys derivation in the LTE network. Following are the steps which are performed in the LTE network UE sends an initial NAS message to the MME. The initial NAS message comprises International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) number. Upon receiving the request from UE it sends an authentication information request to HSS. HSS upon receiving the authentication information request identifies a master key corresponding to the IMSI and derives authentication parameters in the authentication vector. The authentication vector comprises KASME, Authentication token (AUTN), Expected response (XRES), Random number (RAND). HSS using DIAMETER protocol sends the authentication vector as a response to the MME. MME upon receiving the authentication vector from HSS uses KASME to derive keys KNASenc, KNASint, and KeNB. MME then sends an authentication request comprising RAND and AUTN to the UE. RAND and AUTN are the same values that MME earlier received from HSS in step 2. UE receives RAND and AUTN values from the MME and uses its master key K in the SIM and the received RAND and AUTN derives response RES. Further, UE sends RES to the MME. MME upon receiving the Response (RES) from the UE compares it with the Expected response (XRES). If upon comparison the UE response (RES) matches with the expected response (XRES) then the user is authenticated. Hence, in this way the user authentication is performed. Upon user authentication at the MME, MME sends a NAS security mode command to UE with all the information related to encryption and integrity algorithms. MME uses a NAS layer to send the NAS security mode command. The security mode command comprises KASME, Evolved Packet System (EPS) encryption, and integrity algorithm. UE using the KASME, EPS encryption algorithm derives KNASenc, and using KASME, EPS integrity algorithm derives KNASint. Till this point, NAS security is established between UE and MME. Now MME and eNodeB exchange messages between themselves. MME sends an S1AP initiation message to eNodeB. The session initiation message comprises UE security capabilities and KeNB. eNodeB upon receiving the S1AP session initiation message derives keys KRRCenc, KRRCint, and KUPenc which are used in RRC traffic between UE and eNodeB. eNodeB communicates with UE in the RRC layer. eNodeB sends RRC security mode commands to the UE which includes AS encryption algorithm, AS integrity algorithm, START parameters for encryption, and integrity. UE upon receiving the RRC security commands derives KRRCenc, KRRCint using earlier received KASME from MME, AS encryption, and AS integrity algorithm from eNodeB. Till this point RRC security mode is complete. eNodeB sends a message to MME indicating that all tasks have been completed, all layers such as NAS layer, RRC layer, and user plane layer are protected and the user equipment is also authenticated. Hence LTE security is established between the service provider (MME) and their subscribers (UE). How User Equipment (UE) authenticates the connected LTE network? UE comprises master key K, which derives authentication token and also receives authentication token (AUTN) from MME and compares both the tokens at the UE end and if both authentication tokens are found equal then network authenticity is established and hence authentic network is connected to the UE. 5G network security vs. LTE (4G) network security In telecommunications, when service providers transit from LTE (4G) network to 5G network, they either use Non-Stand Alone (NSA) or Stand-Alone (SA) 5G tracks to transmit data packets in the 5G network. In the 5G network security works the same way as in the LTE security model but with some enhancement to encryption algorithms and security for the user side data. NSA refers to Non-Stand Alone architecture in which the radio part is 5G New Radio (NR) and the core part is 4G Evolved Packet Core (EPC). In short, Non-Stand Alone refers to 5G Radio + 4G Core = NSA. SA refers to Stand-Alone architecture in which the radio part is 5G New Radio (NR) and the core part is 5G core. In short, Stand-Alonerchitecture refers to 5G Radio + 5G Core = SA. LTE network security drawbacks which are covered in 5G network security In the LTE network, user’s permanent IDs (such as International Mobile Subscriber Identities - IMSIs) are transmitted in plain text over the air interface. Attackers can exploit this vulnerability using the IMSI catcher. In 5G networks, the user’s permanent IDs (in this case SUPIs) are transmitted in ciphertext to defend against such attacks. In the LTE network, the EPS key hierarchy uses 128-bit keys while in the 5G network 256-bitey is used. 5G security standards use 256-bit cryptographic algorithms which are sufficient to resist attacks done by any quantum computers. In the LTE network, only user data encryption is provided to the user data packets while in the 5G network the security standard provides integrity to the user data packets which prevents user data from being tampered by attackers. In the LTE network, there are chances of a man-in-middle attack between the LTE radio network and LTE core network when the user equipment moves to the roaming network. There are chances that the roaming network may access the core network. This risk was eliminated in the 5G security model. In the 5G security model, Security Edge Protection Proxy (SEPP) is deployed to implement E2E security protection. The E2E security is used for providing inter-operator signaling and security functions such as topology hiding, message filtering, TLS channels, and application-layer security protection for roaming messages through the IPX networks. These functions prevent a data breach and unauthorized tampering at the transport and application layer. Conclusion: The security standards implemented in the 5G network comprise more enhanced features that are not only protecting the user’s data but also securing the roaming network in the transport and application layer. Hence, the issue of the data breach and unauthorized tampering of the user data was fully eliminated in the 5G security standards. References 1.https://www-file.huawei.com/-/media/corporate/pdf/trust-center/huawei-5g-security-white-paper-4th.pdf 2.https://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/SpecialPublications/NIST.SP.800-187.pdf 3.https://download.e-bookshelf.de/download/0000/5825/50/L-G-0000582550-0002360736.pdf 4.https://csrc.nist.gov/CSRC/media/Presentations/LTE-Security-How-Good-is-it/images-media/day2_research_200-250.pdf

Terahertz (THz) radiation is an electromagnetic radiation in the frequency range from roughly 0.1 THz to 10 THz. THz frequency is higher than those of radio waves and microwaves, but lower than those of infrared light. The wavelength is in the range of 0.03 mm to 3 mm, and often below 1 mm, giving it another name, sub millimeter radiation. Until very recently, there was a lack of availability of good terahertz sources and suitable detectors for THz radiation, thus, this spectral range was referred as the terahertz gap. It was only in the 1990s that interest in terahertz waves grew strong, and more and more research groups engaged in this area. The fast pace advancement in this field owes largely to the advances in photonics, quantum mechanics. Now there are various powerful solutions both for generation and detection of terahertz waves. THz waves are less harmful than X-rays when used for medical imaging, and when used for spectroscopy they provide information that other waves cannot. THz wave has applications in many different fields, spectroscopy, physics, material science, electrical engineering, chemistry, forensics, biology and medicine and further hold new research potential that are still being discovered. The field receiving the most attention is medical imaging and spectroscopy. These advances strengthen the motivation for further efforts in various areas of THz technology. THz produces a frequency that is both coherent and spectrally broad, so such images can contain far more information than a conventional image formed with a single-frequency source. Although THz frequency can penetrate fabrics and plastics, it is non-ionizing and therefore harmless to living tissue or DNA, making it very valuable for imaging and screening applications. Various THz sources are shown below. There has been a considerable surge in the research on intense THz sources and their applications. QCLs (Quantum Cascade Lasers) is its one such source based on the inter-sub band transition of semiconductor multiple quantum wells and their oscillation frequency can be controlled by varying the width of the wells regardless of the band gap of the materials. In QCLs, electrons injected into the active layers cascade from one sublevel to another within the well, thus inducing laser oscillation. Before proceeding further, it’s necessary to first understand the concept of quantum wells. What are Quantum Wells? Figure above shows the quantum well for the conduction band. The black lines show the potential well due to the changes in conduction band energy between the different materials. The red lines show the allowed energy levels for an electron within the well. The blue lines show the (envelope) wave functions of the electrons for each energy level and the green line shows the Fermi level that indicates how many electrons have been put into the quantum well. An electron’s energy can only take certain values that we call energy levels. A quantum well is one such semiconductor nanostructure [1], [2]. It is a nanometer thick layer of semiconductor sandwiched between layers of a different but compatible semiconductor. If the semiconductors are chosen correctly then we have created a structure that can trap electrons within this thin layer. In order to create a quantum well, we need to use semiconductors that have compatible lattice constants [1]. For the material family GaAs/AlxGa1-xAs, the lattice constant is almost independent of the aluminum percentage which is one reason that these materials have been exploited so much for creating semiconductor structures. Quantum wells are important semiconductor devices that are used in many ways. Optical transitions between the conduction and the valence band, are called interband transitions. Optical transitions between the different electron levels within the quantum well, these are the intersubband transitions. These transitions have a smaller energy gap and so they interact with light in the mid- to far- infrared part of the spectrum. What is a Quantum Cascade Laser? Quantum Cascade Laser is a semiconductor laser involving only one type of carrier. It is based on two fundamental quantum phenomena: · The quantum confinement · The tunneling In the QCL transition do not occur between different electronic bands (VB-CB) but on intersubband transitions of a semiconductor material. In QCLs, electrons are injected into the active layers cascaded from one sublevel to another within the well, thus inducing laser oscillation. An electron injected into the gain region undergoes a first transition between the upper two sublevels of a quantum well and a photon is emitted. Then, the electron relaxes to the lowest sub level by a non-radiative transition, before tunneling into the upper level of the next quantum well. The whole process is repeated over a large number of cascaded periods. Electrons are recycled due to cascaded structure as each injected electron generates N photons (N is the number of stages). QCL is unipolar in operation. In figure below initial and final states have the same curvature. E3-E2 transition emits the Laser (photons). E2-E1 transition emits phonon leading crystal vibration. E2-E1 transition is very fast, and it is made resonant with the optical phonon energy. Emission of photons occurs at the same wavelength, thus increasing the gain. Initially, QCLs oscillated in the mid-IR range. Unlike conventional lasers, THz QCLs oscillate in the active layers (multiple quantum wells) of metal–metal (or metal–semiconductor) waveguides narrower than the wavelength. Material Used: InGaAs/InAlAs and GaAs/AlGaAs. QCL Strengths Layer thickness determines emission wavelength • InGaAs/InAlAs: 3.5 – 24 µm • GaAs/AlGaAs: Far-IR, THz Engineering Issues: Because of Quantum Confinement, the spacing between the sub bands depends on the width of the well, it increases as the well size is decreased. This way, the emission wavelength depends on layer thickness and not on the band gap of the constituent assembly. · Band Structure · Building Blocks can be Single QW (Quantum Well), Coupled QWs (Quantum Wells) or Super Lattice Performance Highlights: Wavelength Ability: 3.5 to 24 micrometre (AlInAs/GaInAs), 60-160micrometre (AlGaAs/GaAs) Multi wavelength and ultra-broadband operation Applications: Trace gas analysis, combustion and medical diagnostics, environmental monitoring, military and law enforcement Reliability, reproducibility, long term stability Industrial research and Commercialization Current Scenario for THz Generation using QCL Terahertz quantum cascade laser (THz-QCL) is expected as a compact terahertz laser light source which realizes high output power, quite narrow emission line width, and cw (continuous wave) operation. Recent progress and future prospects of THz quantum-cascade lasers. THz-QCLs are studied using GaAs/AlGaAs and GaN/AlGaN semiconductor super lattices. 1. (2013) a team of researchers at TU Wien (Vienna University of Technology) managed to create a new kind of quantum cascade laser with an output of one watt of terahertz radiation, breaking the previous world record of about 0.25 watts. The previous world record for terahertz quantum cascade lasers of almost 250 mill watts held by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The laser of TU Vienna produced one watt of radiation. 2. In 2015, researchers demonstrated 1.9-3.8 THz GaAs/AlGaAs QCLs with double metal waveguide (DMW) structures. They developed a low-frequency higher nature operation QCL (T<160K for 1.9 THz- QCL) by introducing indirect injection scheme design (4-level design) into GaAs/AlGaAs THz-QCLs. Nitride semiconductor is a material having potentials for realizing wide frequency range of QCL, i.e., 3ï1/2'20 THz and 1ï1/28 μm, including an unexplored terahertz frequency range from 5 to 12 THz, as well as realizing room temperature operation of THz-QCL. The merit of using an AlGaN-based semiconductor is that it has much higher longitudinal optical phonon energies (ELO> 90meV) than those of conventional semiconductors (∼ 36 meV). They fabricated high-quality AlGaN/GaN QC stacking layers by introducing a novel growth technique in molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). A GaN/AlGaN QCLs with pure three-level design and obtained the first lasing action of nitride-based QCL from 5.4-7 THz was fabricated. [6] 3. Innovators at NASA's Glenn Research Center have developed a cutting-edge tunable, multi-frequency controller for a terahertz (THz) quantum cascade laser (QCL) source. The device enables use of the full bandwidth of broadband THz, producing an extensive number of frequency channels. Operating at THz frequencies, QCL emissions deliver higher-resolution imaging than microwaves, and they provide higher-contrast images than X-rays. Glenn's scientists have devised an efficient technique that generates high-resolution tuning over a vast number of usable THz-frequencies, at commercial levels of cost and simplicity. This innovation opens a pathway to vastly expanded use of THz QCL in unprecedented terrestrial applications, including communications, homeland security screening, biomedicine, and quality control. Glenn's innovation is a THz QCL source (range 1 to 5 THz) based on a passive waveguide tuning mechanism. In Glenn’s process, a tunable QCL is coupled to a grating router, which consists of an appropriately configured linear dielectric array. The grating router receives a THz frequency from the QCL and generates a high density of THz frequencies. The output of the grating router enters an on/off switching waveguide controller, which is configured to select one desired THz frequency. This desired frequency is then fed into a waveguide multiplexer, which combines the output ports of the controller into a single signal for transmission. Glenn's novel technology unlocks the potential for THz frequencies to revolutionize sensing and imaging applications across a wide range of industries. Its applications lie in · Homeland security screening to detect concealed weapons or explosive · Biomedical imaging · Manufacturing, quality control, and process monitoring · Wireless communications Remote sensing of environmental pollutants in the atmosphere · Imaging systems within semiconductors Spectroscopy and tomography 4. A report on the Doppler-free saturation spectroscopy of a molecular transition at 3.3 THz based on a quantum-cascade laser and an absorption cell in a collinear pump-probe configuration is presented. A Lamb dip with a sub-Doppler line width of 170 kHz is observed for a rotational transition of HDO. It was found that a certain level of external optical feedback is tolerable as long as the free spectral range of the external cavity is large compared to the width of the absorption line. [3] 5. High Resolution Terahertz Spectroscopy with Quantum Cascade Lasers THz quantum cascade lasers (QCLs) are promising sources for implementation into THz spectrometers, in particular at frequencies above 3 THz, which is the least explored portion of the THz region. One application of QCLs in THz spectroscopy is in absorption spectrometers, where they can replace less powerful and somewhat cumbersome sources based on frequency mixing with gas lasers. 6. High-resolution gas phase spectroscopy with a distributed feedback terahertz quantum cascade laser [4] Here the authors have implemented a distributed feedback device in a spectrometer for High resolution gas phase spectroscopy. Amplitude as well as frequency modulation Schemes have been realized. The absolute frequency was determined by mixing the radiation from the quantum cascade laser with that from a gas laser. The pressure broadening and the pressure shift of a rotational transition of methanol at 2.519THz2.519THz were measured in order to demonstrate the performance of the spectrometer. 7. High-resolution Terahertz Spectroscopy with Quantum-Cascade Lasers [5] The goal of this project consists in the demonstration of a spectrometer for high-resolution laser spectroscopy of semiconductors at THz frequencies based on narrow-line-width quantum-cascade lasers (QCLs). One target is to determine the line width and line shape of impurity transitions in isotope-pure Ge and Si with ultimate accuracy, i.e. without limitation of the spectral resolution by the apparatus function of the spectrometer. A special focus will be the complementary analysis of the lifetimes derived from time-resolved pump-probe techniques and spectrally resolved absorption measurements with the QCL-based spectrometer. The project is realized in collaboration with the Paul-Drude-Institute (PDI) in Berlin, where dedicated QCLs are developed. References [1] Paul Harrison. Quantum Wells, Wires and Dots: Theoretical and Computational Physics of Semiconductor Nanostructures. Wiley, 2011. [2] Simon M. Sze Kwok K. Ng. Semiconductor Devices: Physics and Technology. Wiley-Blackwell, 3rd edition, 2006. [3] High Resolution Terahertz Spectroscopy with Quantum Cascade Lasers, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10762-013-9973-7 [4] High-resolution gas phase spectroscopy with a distributed feedback terahertz quantum cascade laser, https://aip.scitation.org/doi/abs/10.1063/1.2335803?journalCode=apl [5] High-resolution Terahertz Spectroscopy with Quantum-Cascade Lasers, https://www.physics.hu-berlin.de/en/os/projects/thz-spectroscopy-with-qcls [6] Recent progress and future prospects of THz quantum-cascade lasers https://www.researchgate.net/publication/282204672_Recent_progress_and_future_prospects_of_THz_quantum-cascade_lasers #emergingtech #medicalimaging #biotechnology #quatummechanics

Everyone is talking about the novel coronavirus, its symptoms and how it is affecting work and life of worldwide, with us folks at Copperpod being no exception. The epidemic has become a pandemic in a matter of days and is a major challenge for some countries to contain its spread, let alone finding a cure to it. In a commitment to limiting spread of the disease, Copperpod has put on pause all business travel for at least 2 weeks, until the CDC and other relevant authorities around the world provide much-needed optimism on controlling and curing the disease. This novel Coronavirus, also known by names COVID-19 and 2019-nCoV, doesn’t need an introduction by now. It is a topic of discussion in every room and has been declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern by World Health Organisation (WHO). The alarming rate at which it is spreading has made everyone conscious of their health and surroundings. As of March 2020, precautions (and conventional medical procedures) are the only measures that have been adopted by the governments to prevent the spread of this disease. There is no vaccine or cure at present that is effective against COVID-19. Although, researchers and medical practitioners are leaving no stone unturned to devise a vaccine or an antidote to terminate this menace, we are yet to achieve success. We, at Copperpod, decided to use our skills to find out what has been researched till now and what technology may come up that can actually end, or at least control the disease. Before looking at our findings, let’s look at the types of coronaviruses and which one of them is responsible for the widespread disease. Common human coronaviruses: 229E and NL63 (alpha coronaviruses) OC43 and HKU1 (beta coronaviruses) Rare human coronaviruses: MERS-CoV (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome) SARS-CoV (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) SARS-CoV-2 (the one that started in Wuhan, China in December 2019) According to WHO, SARS-CoV-2 is related to SARS-CoV but the two viruses are different in structure. Historically, researchers and innovators have been working on vaccine/antidote since coronavirus was discovered and a first patent FR2245374B1 describing an antiviral agent to counter coronavirus 229E was filed in France in 1973. 6 years later in 1979, it was filed in the US. However, SARS-CoV was first described in a patent FR2601251 filed in 1986 in France describing a vaccine for pigs. Looking at the patent filing trends since the first patent, most of the research has been performed by scientists and inventors in universities. The below chart shows the top assignees of the patents that are directly related to detecting or curing coronavirus disease: It is clearly visible that universities own highest number of patents with most of them belonging to the Harvard College. Interestingly, US Department of Health and Human Services stands second in the list with 12 patents to its name describing immunogens, antibodies and vaccines against SARS virus. Companies such as Zirus, Kineta, Novartis, GSK are next in line having good research against coronavirus. With respect to protection country, the highest number of patents have been filed in the US followed by Europe, China, Japan and Korea, as shown in the below chart: Further, most of the patents have been filed in the year 2004 after the SARS-CoV was discovered in 2002 in China. Since then, the research has been continuous and with patents being filed every year, as per below statistics: Although, there are patents describing vaccines and antidotes to counter SARS-CoV, the WHO has not formally recognized any vaccine/antidote/treatment that once-and-for-all puts an end to the rare virus. And SARS-CoV-2 is too recent that has added more panic among the governments and pressure on the medical practitioners to find a solution before it becomes impossible to contain. For SARS-CoV-2, the research has already started since December 2019, especially in China and Korea, which the virus had caused most deaths. Two patents have been filed related to this virus, one each in China and Korea: CN110870402, describing a prescription for treating pneumonia infected by novel coronavirus. Filed by Ge Youwen, a scientist in China. KR20200007980A, describing biomarkers for SARS and candidate compounds for MERS cure. Filed by Han-Jun Cho, a scientist at Catholic University of Korea. Across the globe, various research institutes, government organizations, pharmaceutical companies, foundations and trusts have collaborated and are working towards development of a cure. Below graphic lists the prominent ones: With the scale of research going on, more patents are yet to come up this year. Who knows, a vaccine for treatment may come up in near future that may lend some relief and take everyone’s work and lives back to normal. Till then, we, at Copperpod, wish you safety, and good health. References: [1] https://www.who.int/health-topics/coronavirus [2] https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-health-vaccines-idUSKBN1ZN2J8 [3] https://www.gatesfoundation.org/TheOptimist/coronavirus [4] https://hms.harvard.edu/news/designing-coronavirus-vaccine [5] https://www.med.ubc.ca/news/combatting-coronavirus-covid-19/ [6] https://www.uq.edu.au/news/article/2020/02/significant-step%E2%80%99-covid-19- vaccine-quest [7] https://www.scmp.com/tech/science-research/article/3049462/us-start-genapsys-says- ipad-sized-gene-sequencer-could-help [8] https://www.clinicaltrialsarena.com/analysis/covid-19-pharmaceutical-company- partnerships-for-coronavirus-vaccines-development/ Note: Copperpod conducts deep technical analysis and helps attorneys substantiate infringement arguments with detailed evidence of use reports, claim charts and other licensing/litigation artifacts - while reducing overall cost of enforcement. Contact us to know more about our services, expertise and how we can help you to manage, monetize and protect your intellectual property. #coronavirus #pharma #patents

COVID-19 pandemic has led many industries to file bankruptcy in 2020. It’s been a rough year for the restaurant and construction industries. On the other hand, the telecom sector is not affected that much by the pandemic as the internet has become the need of an hour for every house. These low times have created an opportunity for telecom industries to explore and expand their horizon. For example, Bharti Airtel partnered with Verizon to launch their video conferencing service – BlueJeans in India. Airtel BlueJeans offers enterprise-grade security meetings (which includes encrypted calls, ability to lock and password protect a meeting and generate randomized meeting IDs), events, rooms, and gateway for Microsoft Teams functionalities. Likewise, Reliance Jio - a subsidiary of Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), announced its first augmented reality-enabled glasses “Jio Glass” in India to enter into a new technology (Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR) and Mixed Reality (MR)) market. Jio Glass weighs in at just 75 grams, has an inbuilt audio system supporting all standard audio formats, and gets easily connected to all smartphones. Due to a sudden surge in demands for remote communications using videos during the COVID-19 pandemic, Jio Glass is focused on video calls. Jio Glass uses a 3D holographic image of participants, in addition to their 2D avatar from the regular video feed. Every avatar appears right in front of your eyes in a virtually created environment, such as that of an office or a conference room. The participants can share files and make presentations while being virtually available in Jio Glass' environment. Jio Glass currently supports 25 apps meant for video conferencing and online collaboration. It also supports voice commands for most functions, minimizing the need for buttons. For example, to make a video call to a person or more, simply say "Hello Jio, call x1 and x2", and so on. Jio Glass will make a call to those people, given it is tethered to a phone using a cable or Wi-Fi. Jio is also launching its own online education platform called Embibe, which will be integrated with Jio Glass. Similar products already in the market: · Microsoft HoloLens - The premier device for Windows Mixed Reality, Microsoft HoloLens is a smart-glasses headset that is a cordless, self-contained Windows 10 computer. It uses various sensors, a high-definition stereoscopic 3D optical head-mounted display, and spatial sound to allow for augmented reality applications, with a natural user interface that the user interacts with through gaze, voice, and hand gestures. HoloLens had arrived in 2015. The HoloLens 2 currently costs around INR 2,61,921. · Google Glass – Google started selling their smart wearable glasses to the public on May 15, 2014. A touchpad is located on the side of Google Glass, allowing users to control the device by swiping through a timeline-like interface displayed on the screen. It has the ability to take 5 MP photos and record 720p HD video. Google Glass can be controlled using just “voice actions”. Google Glass 2 is priced at around INR 74,000. · Snap Spectacles 3 – Snap (the parent company of Snapchat) launched Snap Spectacles in India which comes with two attached HD cameras, as well as with a bundled 3D viewer (AKA Google Cardboard) and shoots video in a resolution of 1216 by 1216. These spectacles are the closest analogy to the Jio Glass in terms of their functionalities. Snap Spectacles 3 is priced around INR 30,000. Patents: Wearable computing technology is as old as 1997. The father of the wearable technology, Steve Mann, talked about a prototype consisting of eyeglasses, a handheld control, and a computer worn in back under the shirt in an IEEE paper titled “Wearable Computing: A First Step Toward Personal Imaging”. There are currently over 1900 patents in India that directly relate to Augmented Reality, Mixed Reality and Virtual Reality technologies as specifically targeted towards smart glasses. Qualcomm holds the topmost position with 264 patents to its name, with Microsoft, Samsung, Google and Magic Leap making the rest of the top 5. Reliance Jio has zero patents to its name – and none are expected to filed in the future, if you ask us. However, that does not necessarily mean Reliance hasn't done their homework. Qualcomm Ventures invested $ 97M USD in Reliance Jio platform to acquire a 0.15% equity stake “on a fully diluted basis” and Google invested $ 4.5B USD for a 7.73% stake. Facebook, Silver Lake, General Atlantic, and Intel are some of the firms that have backed Jio Platforms. Jio Platforms has sold a 25.24% stake and has raised a whopping amount of money around $ 20.2B USD in the past four months from 13 investors. So even though Jio Glass is hardly a new product (and Reliance being notorious for knocking-off existing products), Reliance has clearly elevated the game with Jio Glass by getting the right partners that do have seminal intellectual property around the technology on board. #india #innovation #patents #jioglass #reliance #qualcomm

We are honored to be featured in Feedspot's Top 100 Intellectual Property Blogs in 2020, debuting at #47! The Copperpod team understands that our clients trust us not only for the transactional analysis we deliver, but also for the experience, expertise and thought leadership that translate into the strategic advantage our clients get during patent monetization and enforcement.