The Federal Court announced that it is suspending in-person hearings until March 27th, stating that, “Court facilities will be closed to visitors, though the Court will remain open for urgent case-related matters. … All General Sittings of the Court are cancelled … All other hearings and trials of the Court previously scheduled to proceed during this two-week period are adjourned sine die” but hearings scheduled by telephone will go ahead. See the notice for details including on electronic filing/service and rescheduling. Federal Court of Appeal issued its own notice and says, hearings, “during the weeks of March 16th and 23rd 2020 remain on the hearing list.” but is making use of video/telephone conferencing and receiving requests for adjournment.
All posts by Alan Macek
Crown Copyright
A private member’s bill, C-209, was introduced last week that would abolish Crown Copyright. Continue reading Crown Copyright
Protective Orders
For those following the recent Federal Court of Appeal decision in Canadian National Railway Company v. BNSF Railway Company, 2020 FCA 45, stating, “Protective orders undoubtedly remain pertinent and useful for intellectual property litigants and there is no justification, legal or otherwise, for stifling this long-standing practice” may be interested in my article for Slaw earlier this year on how we got here and the model orders published by the Federal Court. Continue reading Protective Orders
Trademark Filings in 2019
Here are some more stats from the trademark filings in 2019 (see earlier post). According to my data, the top trademark filers for 2019 were:
| Prior to June 17 | After June 17 |
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Trademark Filings in 2019
Approximately 68000 trademark applications were filed in 2019 (up about 6% from 2018). About 33% were filed without an agent (25% of marks prior to June 17; 44% of marks filed after although CIPO appears to be still updating agents for 2019 incoming Madrid marks) compared to about 24% in 2018. There were about 7500 incoming Madrid filings. See more stats, including my annual list of firms filing the most trademark applications. Continue reading Trademark Filings in 2019
Innovation Report
The report, “Intellectual Property in Ontario’s Innovation Ecosystem”, was published today by Ontario’s Expert Panel on IP chaired by Jim Balsillie: “… it was clear that the most significant recurring themes revolved around questions of capacity-building in IP education and access to specialized IP legal services as well as the structure and governance of the various ‘public sector’ entities within the ecosystem.” Continue reading Innovation Report
Appointments
Christine Pallotta of Borden Ladner Gervais LLP was appointed a judge of the Federal Court today. Judicial appointments were also made today in Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and Saskatchewan.
NAFTA 2.0
Bill C-4 was introduced today to implement the Canada-US-Mexico trade agreement. The IP related changes are substantially the same as those included in Bill C-100 introduced last May. Bill C-4 include a new criminal provisions on trade secrets, trademark changes on importation and in-transit goods, and some changes on copyright term (although not a general extension to life+70).
TM Practice Notices
CIPO posted new and amended practice notices for several aspects of trademark procedures:
- extensions of time in examination – the office will no longer grant extensions of time unless exceptional circumstances are shown;
- filing of divisional applications without a specific e-service;
- transitional provisions for Nice classifications;
- renewal of applications that do not have Nice classifications; and
- temporarily appointing a trademark agent for dealing with Nice classifications.
Confidentiality
The Federal Court has published ‘Model Orders’ for Protective Orders, exchanging material between parties, and Confidentiality Orders, for filing material with the Court. The website notes that any changes to the model order must be reflected with redlining and the Court may make the final decision on the terms of any order notwithstanding the agreement of the parties.