Last week, the federal government introduced significant changes to the Trade-marks Act by tabling the omnibus budget bill, Bill C-31, the Economic Action Plan 2014 Act, No. 1 on March 28, 2014. The “monster” Bill makes changes to nearly forty different pieces of legislation, and is designed to enact measures in last month’s federal budget. The trademark amendments will allow Canada to meet its international treaty obligations (including the Nice Agreement, Singapore Treaty, and the Madrid Protocol). According to the government summary, the proposed changes make the Trade-marks Act consistent with the Singapore Treaty, add authority to carry the Madrid Protocol into effect, and simplify the trademark application filing requirements.
Last week the government authorized the Department of Foreign Affairs to take the actions necessary to bring into force for Canada, the World Intellectual Property Organization Copyright Treaty and the World Intellectual Property Organization Performances and Phonograms Treaty. The coming into force of the treaties will affect the entry into force of several sections of the Copyright Modernization Act from 2012.
A proposed “Statement” limiting the scope of equitable remuneration under s.19 of the Copyright Act for countries that do not offer a reciprocal right, was published in the Canada Gazette. This will update a similar statement from 1999 for changes to domestic laws and countries which have acceded to the Rome Convention.
The Federal Government has responded to the recommendations of the special advisor on Prothonotary compensation, including with a proposal to have Prothonotary compensation managed under the Judges Act.
The Federal Court has published a Notice to the Profession on experimental testing in patent infringement and validity actions. It requires that notice be provided at least two months prior to the service of expert reports and unless notice is provided, the party shall not lead evidence at trial as to the experiments except with leave of the Court.
The Ontario Court issued practice notices regarding motion practice last fall that were recently published online. The first requires, among other things, the moving party to file a Notice of Motion within 10 days after the motion date is requisitioned. The second is an announcement that additional resources are being allocated to long motions.
Justice André F.J. Scott has been elevated to the Federal Court of Appeal on Friday to replace Justice Noël. He has been a judge of the Federal Court since 2010. Appointments were also made to the Ontario and Newfoundland courts.
Yesterday, the United States Supreme Court held that the patentee has the burden of proving infringement when a licensee seeks declaratory judgment, in Medtronic v. Mirowski (PDF), reversing the lower court.
In a decision issued today, Justice Hughes considered the breadth of the claims in the first [see update below] biologic patent infringement trial decision of the Federal Court. The patent at issue was found valid and infringed.