For searching the Canadian Patents Database, I’ve prepared a Chrome/Firefox extension that permits searching by number with commas (ie “2,345,678”) in both the basic and number search fields – see tools.
Category Archives: Daily Alert
Proposed Trademark Regulations
CIPO has published proposed amendments to the Trademark Regulations to go with the amendments to the Trademarks Act (Bill C-31) made in June 2014. The proposed regulations deal with almost all aspects of trademark law including correspondence, applications, Nice classifications, the Madrid Protocol, oppositions and cancellation procedures.
Patent Agent Exam
December 2, 2014 is the deadline for applying to write the Patent Agent Exam which will be held April 28, 29, 30, and May 1, 2015. This is the first year the exam will be held under the new rules which came into force earlier this year.
Europe/Canada
Earlier this week, CIPO and the European Patent Office announced a memorandum of understanding to establish a Patent Prosecution Highway between the two offices to expedite patent applications. In other European news, the text of CETA, the Canada/Europe Trade Agreement was officially published.
Competition and Patents
The Competition Bureau has released a couple of documents on competition issues and patents, addressing among other things non-use of an IP right and potentially anti-competitive patent litigation settlement agreements.
IP and 3D printing
3D printing raises interesting issues in all areas of intellectual property. What types of intellectual property will be used by rights holders and how will copyright, trade-marks, industrial design and patents be enforced against providers and users of 3D printers? I explore some of these issues in an article published today.
“Promise Doctrine”
Canada has filed its Statement of Defence in Eli Lilly’s NAFTA challenge to the ‘promise utility doctrine’ applied by Canadian courts to invalidate its Strattera and Zyprexa patents. The Statement of Defence characterizes Eli Lilly’s claims as, among other things, seeking to transform the NAFTA tribunal into “a supranational court of appeal from reasoned, principled, and procedurally just domestic court decisions.”
Trade-mark Agent Exams
The Canadian Intellectual Property Office has announced that the Trade-mark Agent Qualifying Examination will be held on November 25, 2014 with a deadline for applying of September 4, 2014. This is the first examination since the exemption for lawyers was removed.
Comparative Biologics
Yesterday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued its decision in Abbvie Deutschland Gmbh & Co. v. Janssen Biotech, Inc. relating to patents on directed to antibodies that bind to and neutralize the activity of human interleukin 12. The CAFC found there was sufficient evidence for the jury to find the patents invalid for lack of written description.
US Performance Rights
A majority of the United States Supreme Court ruled in American Broadcasting Cos. v. Aereo, Inc. that Aereo transmits a performance to the public by sending television signals it receives over the air from individual antennas to subscribers over the internet.