The United States Supreme Court has issued a couple of intellectual property decisions this week:
Star Athletica, L. L. C. v. Varsity Brands, Inc. where a majority found a feature incorporated into the design of a useful article is eligible for copyright protection only if the feature (1) can be perceived as a two- or three-dimensional work of art separate from the useful article, and (2) would qualify as a protectable pictorial, graphic, or sculptural work—either on its own or fixed in some other tangible medium of expression—if it were imagined separately from the useful article into which it is incorporated. The particular facts related to cheerleading uniforms.
As mentioned on Friday, the NAFTA arbitration tribunal in the Eli Lilly ‘promise doctrine’ proceeding has issued a ruling. The public decision is now available confirming that the tribunal decided in favour of Canada on the merits. The decision addresses issues of jurisdiction, liability for judicial measures and Canada’s utility requirements for patents. Continue reading NAFTA→
The NAFTA arbitration tribunal in the Eli Lilly ‘promise doctrine’ proceeding has issued a ruling. Reports are that the tribunal has decided in favour of Canada on the merits. Continue reading NAFTA→
Canada has a scheme under the Trade-marks Act, where government authorities can list official marks. In 2016, over 700 prohibited marks were listed in Canada. The top ten filers were Continue reading 2016 in Official Marks→
About 55,390 trademark applications were filed in Canada in 2016. Of these, about 24% were filed in-house or without an agent (up slightly from previous years). Check out my list of the 50 firms/agents that filed the most applications in 2016. Continue reading Canadian Trademark Firms in 2016→
Combining technology with financial services in the age of mobile, cloud and blockchain gives rise to many potential disruptors and established players trying to increase, protect, license and monetize their intellectual property. I explore some of these ideas in my recent article in Slaw on Protecting FinTech Innovation. Continue reading Fintech→
This email wraps up 2016. Thanks for being a subscriber! Over 350,000 IPPractice emails were sent over the year to over 1500 subscribers, listing 450 new intellectual property proceedings and reporting 180 decisions. I’m looking forward to more developments in 2017. Happy New Year!
Some more stats from the past year are on the website.
If you missed watching the oral arguments at the Supreme Court on Tuesday in Google Inc. v. Equustek Solutions Inc., the SCC has posted the video for re-play (see earlier post).
The United States Supreme Court has released its decision in Samsung v. Apple regarding the damages for design infringement. Finding in favour of Samsung, the court held that in the case of a multicomponent product, the relevant “article of manufacture” for arriving at a §289 damages award need not be the end product sold to the consumer but may be only a component of that product. The $399 million damages award was reversed and the proceeding remanded back to the Federal Circuit.
The Supreme Court of Canada will hear arguments in Google Inc. v. Equustek Solutions Inc., et al on Tuesday, December 6th at 9:30, which will be webcast. The proceeding arose as a trademark and trade secret proceeding in which the court granted an injunction against the third party, Google, displaying certain search results globally. Continue reading Extraterritorial Injunctions→
Canadian Intellectual Property
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