This site is my collection of updates, statistics and analysis on intellectual property in Canada. I am a partner at DLA Piper (Canada) LLP practicing in the area of intellectual property (more about me). Material on this website are my own views and do not reflect the position of DLA Piper (Canada) LLP, any of its member firms around the world, or any of its clients. IPPractice.ca grew out of my hobby to gather and share interesting updates on intellectual property to friends and colleagues. Highlights include:
Recent Posts:
Negar Azmudeh, Assistant Deputy Chairperson at the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada was appointed a Judge of the Federal Court. Appointments were also made yesterday to the courts in Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Newfoundland & Labrador, Nunavut.
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CIPO has shared a “Due Care Observations” notice that says that many requests for reinstatement on the basis of due care i) do not address the ‘relevant point in time’, ii) refer to ‘unintentionality’ rather than ‘due care’, iii) do not address that ‘all authorized persons must show due care’, and iv) ‘lack information’ on what actions were taken to avoid a failure. The observations also address the situation where an agent remains of record but an annuity service is paying maintenance fees.
CIPO has an announced a consultation on the determination of additional term if a patent was issued after a threshold date unless, after accounting for days to be subtracted, the net number of relevant days prior to issuance falls below the threshold outlined in the Act. The consultation also considers extension of time for requesting examination, suspension of examination during late payment of maintenance fees and requesting priority and early publication on the same day. The consultation period is open until September 8.
Earlier this month, the Federal Court of Appeal updated its website, including the online docket listings to be similar to the Federal Court website. As a result of this change, I have now updated the IPPractice file browser to work again, including from embedded links in the daily emails, and added direct ‘download’ links where documents are available online.
Yesterday, the US Supreme Court issued its decision in Abitron Austria GmbH v. Hetronic Int’l, Inc. on the foreign reach of the Lanham Act that prohibit trademark infringement, finding that the implicated sections are not extraterritorial and extend only to claims where the infringing use in commerce is domestic.