Decision

Frac Shack Inc. v. AFD Petroleum Ltd, 2017 FC 104

Justice Manson - 2017-01-26

Read full decision. Summary prepared by Alan Macek:

This trial concerned the validity and infringement of Canadian Patent 2,693,567, entitled “Fuel Delivery System and Method”. In response to assertions of patent infringement, the Defendant asserted that the AFD Frac Trailer does not infringe, and counterclaims that the ‘567 Patent is invalid because: (i) it was obvious; (ii) there was insufficient disclosure in the patent; and/or (iii) the claims were broader than the invention made or disclosed. The Court found the claims sufficient, a subset of the claims to be broader than any invention made or disclosed, a subset to be non-obvious, and a subset to be not infringed, leaving a set of valid claims infringed. The Court granted an injunction, an accounting of profits and reasonable royalty rate of 29% for pre-grant activity. The court considered arguments of non-infringing alternative and found a manual method did not apply because of the significant improvement over the alternative by the invention in safety and risk. The quantum of the remedy was left to be calculated in accordance with the reasons.

Decision relates to:

 

Canadian Intellectual Property