The Canadian Patent Office has issued guidelines to its examiners on examining patent applications for patentable subject matter in light of the Federal Court’s Amazon.com decision.
Category Archives: Daily Alert
U.S. CAFC on patentability of isolated genes
Earlier today, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Myriad Genetics held that isolated genes are patent-eligible subject matter, reversing the lower court in part (PDF).
Continue reading U.S. CAFC on patentability of isolated genes
UK Supreme Court on enforcement of foreign IP
Earlier today, UK’s highest court held in Lucasfilm Ltd v Ainsworth that the English courts can decide the issue of infringement of U.S. copyright where there is jurisdiction over the defendant. Continue reading UK Supreme Court on enforcement of foreign IP
New CIRA domain name dispute rules
CIRA has announced that they are implementing a new set of policies and rules for domain name disputes. The new CDRP includes changes to the meaning of “use”, “confusingly similar” and “bad faith” along with a host of other changes and will come into force August 22, 2011.
Federal Court of Appeal on s.73
In decision released yesterday, the Federal Court of Appeal considered the application of s.73(1)(a) ‘good faith’ under the Patent Act and held that “Its operation is extinguished once the patent issues.” (PDF of decision) Dimock Stratton represented two of the respondents in the case and has a summary available.
Bifurcation Orders
The Federal Court has posted a “model” bifurcation order (DOC) for use in intellectual property matters.
Apology
I was away last week on vacation and unfortunately my computer failed while I was away. It is up and running now and today’s email should include all the updates for the past week. Sorry for the interruption!
Patentable Subject Matter Update
Earlier today, the United States Supreme Court announced that it would be hearing the appeal in Mayo Collaborative Services v. Prometheus Laboratories, Inc. The Amazon.com hearing before the Federal Court of Appeal is scheduled for tomorrow in Toronto.
US Supreme Court rules on presumption of validity
The U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision in Microsoft v. i4i (PDF) and held in favour of i4i, upholding the “clear and convincing evidence” standard of evidence needed overcome the presumption of validity in an issued patent. Continue reading US Supreme Court rules on presumption of validity
Discussion paper on changes to Federal Courts Rules
The Federal Courts Rules Committee has posted a discussion paper on possible procedural changes to the Federal Courts Rules. The proposed changes relate to among other things, time limits for defences, books of authorities, amici curiae, and monetary limits for simplified procedure and prothonotaries. Comments are requested by the Rules Committee by June 24, 2011July 15, 2011.
Continue reading Discussion paper on changes to Federal Courts Rules