Foreign Updates

A couple of non-Canadian developments that may be of interest:

  • a majority of the US Supreme Court allowed the registration for the trademark “Booking.com” in the face of arguments that it was generic: “According to the PTO, adding “.com” to a generic term—like adding “Company”—can convey no source-identifying meaning. That premise is faulty, for only one entity can occupy a particular Internet domain name at a time, so a “generic.com” term could convey to consumers an association with a particular website.”
  • the UK Supreme Court in Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc v Kymab Ltd considered patent sufficiency: “The disclosure required of the patentee is such as will, coupled with the common general knowledge existing as at the priority date, be sufficient to enable the skilled person to make substantially all the types or embodiments of products within the scope of the claim.”

Federal Court

The Federal Court has issued a further COVID update:

  • extending the Suspension Period through to June 29 for Ontario, Quebec and the territories;
  • ending the Suspension Period for the end in the rest of the country on June 15 with hearings not being held until July 13, 2020 and certain deadlines suspended until June 29.