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.
Proportional Litigation
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.
IP Items
A few items that may be of interest:
- 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- The Federal Court has issued a practice notice on the publication of decisions having ‘precedential’ and ‘non-precedential’ value.
Online Patent Documents
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
Town Hall
Last month, the Federal Court hosted a ‘Town Hall’ for members of the intellectual property bar to discuss various initiatives happening at the Court as part of CBA’s IP Day. Some of the items discussed included the role of Prothonaries, case management, trial scheduling, and upcoming rule changes and practice notices. Thanks to the Federal Court and the CBA National Intellectual Property Section for organizing the event and making a copy of the slides available.
Competition
The Competition Bureau has published draft “Intellectual Property Enforcement Guidelines” for public comment. The guidelines will describe the Bureau’s position on issues such as patent settlements, including under the PM(NOC) Regulations, standard essential patents, and patent assertion entities.
Marrakesh Treaty
Bill C-65, entitled “An Act to amend the Copyright Act (access to copyrighted works or other subject-matter for persons with perceptual disabilities)” has been introduced to implement the Marrakesh Treaty. Continue reading Marrakesh Treaty
Copyright Board
Justice Robert A. Blair has been appointed as Chair of the Copyright Board. Justice Blair has been a judge of the Ontario Court of Appeal since 2003 after 12 years as a trial judge on the Superior Court. Continue reading Copyright Board
Judicial Appointments
The Honourable Patrick Gleeson, formerly a Canadian Forces legal advisor has been appointed to the Federal Court. Appointments were also made today to the courts in BC, Newfoundland and Labrador, Northwest Territories, Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan and to the Competition Tribunal and the Tax Court.
Foreign Decisions
There were a couple of decisions from the last several days that may be of interest:
- AstraZeneca AB & Anor v KRKA dd Novo Mesto & Anor [2015] EWCA Civ 484 – The Court of Appeal in the UK upheld the award of £27 million damages in favour of a generic for an interim injunction that was ultimately dissolved for esomeprazole.
- Garcia v. Google – The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in an en banc decision (PDF), reversed its earlier panel decision and held that an actor in a controversial film was not entitled to a preliminary decision removing the film from YouTube on the basis that the law and facts did not clearly favour her claim to copyright and her showing of irreparable harm.
- Commil USA, LLC v. Cisco Systems, Inc. – The United States Supreme Court held that a defendant’s belief regarding patent invalidity is not a defence to an induced infringement claim.