The government has announced consultations on reforms to the Copyright Board. A discussion paper accompanying the consultation identifies 13 possible options for legislative and regulatory reforms for the Copyright Board to address timely decision making. The consultation is open until September 29. Continue reading Copyright Board
All posts by Alan Macek
Patent Rules Consultation
Proposed substantive amendments to the Patent Rules have been published for consultation. Among other things, the amendments overhaul filing requirements, the timing of responses to CIPO notices and the abandonment procedures and are directed to implementing the Patent Law Treaty.
Top Patentees 2016
In 2016, approximately 26,400 patents were granted by the Canadian Patent Office, up significantly from the approximately 21,900 granted in 2015. BlackBerry was again the top recipient of patents, with over twice the patents obtained as any other applicant. The remaining applicants in the top-five were The Boeing Company, Halliburton Energy Services, Qualcomm and Schlumberger Canada. Continue reading Top Patentees 2016
Patent Volume in 2016
The number of patent applications published in 2016 or that entered national phase in Canada in 2016 were up slightly over 2015 at about 34,400 application. Smart & Biggar, Gowlings and Norton Rose Fulbright Canada top the list of firms by volume of applications. Continue reading Patent Volume in 2016
CETA Proposed Regulations
Proposed amendments to overhaul the patent linkage regime and add certificates of supplementary protection were published today in the Canada Gazette, Part 1. Amendments to the Patented Medicines (Notice of Compliance) Regulations will replace the current summary procedures with full actions including rights of appeal. New Certificate of Supplementary Regulations are proposed to provide for up to two years of additional exclusivity based on the time to obtain a notice of compliance for a drug containing a new medicinal ingredient or combination of medicinal ingredients. A number of other proposed regulatory amendments relating to CETA were also published. There is a 15-day consultation period.
CETA
Canada and the EU have announced that they have agreed to set September 21, 2017 as the date to start the provisional application of CETA. Continue reading CETA
Promise Doctrine
In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court held today that the promise doctrine is not the correct approach to determine whether a patent has sufficient utility. As a result, the lower court decisions finding the patent at issue directed to Esomeprazole/Nexium invalid for want of utility, were set aside.
Trademark Exam
The trademark agent qualifying exam details have been announced with the exam to take place on November 28, 2017. Sign up deadlines and details are on CIPOs website.
Global Injunction
The Supreme Court of Canada issued its decision today in Google Inc. v. Equustek Solutions Inc., 2017 SCC 34, with the majority holding in the 7-2 decision that the trial judge should be given deference in determining an interlocutory injunction, and where it is necessary to ensure the injunction’s effectiveness, a court can grant an injunction enjoining conduct anywhere in the world, including in this case against third-party Google. The underlying proceeding related to passing off and trade secret infringement by a defendant which was conducted outside B.C. through a series of changing websites.
CETA Implementation
According to an article about the timing of CETA implementation by the CBC, “the European pharmaceutical industry doesn’t want the EU to set a date to start implementing the deal until Canada publishes and consults on some regulatory changes promised to generic drug manufacturers, and some member states are expressing these concerns to the European Commission.” Implementation of CETA requires among other things, amendments to the patent linkage system and patent term adjustment (see earlier post).