Here are two recent foreign decisions that may be of interest:
Huawei v. ZTE – The European Court of Justice issued a decision on standard essential patents (SEPs) relating to LTE technology and whether seeking an injunction on patents with FRAND terms was an abuse of dominance, stating among other things, “in order to prevent an action for a prohibitory injunction or for the recall of products from being regarded as abusive, the proprietor of an SEP must comply with conditions which seek to ensure a fair balance between the interests concerned.”
Amgen v. Sandoz – The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued a divided decision on the ‘patent dance’ scheme for biosimilars in the United States holding that Sandoz was not required to disclose its application to the innovator but that notice could not be given until after receiving FDA approval, extending the period of exclusivity.
Canada has notified WIPO that Canada has ratified the International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants. The treaty will enter into force on July 19, 2015 which follows the amendments earlier this year to the Plant Breeders’ Rights Act.
Two IP related amendments are included in the July 1st Canada Gazette:
As noted last week, changes to the PM(NOC) Regulations relating to patent listing of combination products have been made and the Canada Gazette publication includes the amendment, regulatory impact analysis, and responses to submissions made during the consultation period.
Revised MOPOP chapters were published on filing and completion (Chapter 5), ownership, registration and joint inventors (Chapter 6), examination (Chapter 13), withdrawal, abandonment, reinstatement, lapse and time limits (Chapter 20), and maintenance fees (Chapter 24).
The 2015 Trademark Agent examination dates were announced.
As noted last week, Johanne Bélisle has been appointed as CEO of the Canadian Intellectual Property Office.
Multiple appointments were made today, including to the Federal Court, Federal Court of Appeal, courts of Nunavut, Québec, Manitoba, BC, Ontario and Alberta, the Tax Court and to CIPO. Continue reading Appointments→
Amendments to the PM(NOC) Regulations relating to the listing of patents against combination drugs have been made. The amending regulations, substantially in the form published in May, were registered last week and will be formally published on July 1st in the Canada Gazette.
Bill C-59 received royal assent yesterday which includes changes to the Patent Act, Trade-marks Act, Copyright Act and the Industrial Design Act. The changes include agent privilege, provisions for force majeure and term extension. The provisions on privilege will come into force next year at this time while other sections will require implementing regulations and further orders in council.
The Federal Court has issued a practice notice on streamlining discovery and case management called “Case management: Increased Proportionality in Complex Litigation before the Federal Court”. The guidelines and recommendations, arising from the Court’s Case Management Working Group, include limits on documentary and oral discovery and refusal motions.
The United States Supreme Court issued its decision today in Kimble v. Marvel Entertainment, LLC, upholding the rule that a patentee cannot continue to receive patent royalties for sales made after the patent expires.
The House of Commons has adjourned for the summer so pending bills, including Bill C-65, amending the Copyright Act to implement the Marrakesh Treaty for the blind, will need to be re-introduced. Bill C-59, the budget implementation bill which includes amendments to the Patent Act, Copyright Act, Industrial Design Act and Trade-marks Act, is still pending before the Senate.
The Federal Court has issued a practice notice on the publication of decisions having ‘precedential’ and ‘non-precedential’ value.
The Canadian Patent Office has updated its online patent database to include online access to many of the prosecution documents for applications and patents, including office actions, responses, filing certificates and other documents. CIPO has a list of documents included and not included in the new system. Try it out. Continue reading Online Patent Documents→
Canadian Intellectual Property
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