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.
CASL
Parts of Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation come into force one week today, on July 1, 2014. The controversial legislation addresses all “Commercial Electronic Messages”, messages that have as one of their purposes, to encourage participation in a commercial activity.
Trade-mark Act Amendments
Bill C-31, a budget bill that among other things, amends the Trade-marks Act passed third reading in the Senate yesterday. It is expected to receive royal assent soon, perhaps as early as this evening. The date of entry into force will be determined by an Order in Council.
[Update: Bill C-31 did receive Royal Assent this evening, June 19, 2014. See the status on the Parliament of Canada website.]
Alice v CLS Bank
The United States Supreme Court affirmed the en banc CAFC decision in Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank Int’l that the claims were directed to a patent-ineligible abstract idea.
Notice and Notice
The government announced today that the “Notice and Notice” provisions of the Copyright Modernization Act will come into force in January 2015 without additional regulations.
Three Federal Court Judges Appointed
Three new Federal Court judges were appointed today: Honourable Henry S. Brown (of Gowlings), Honourable Keith M. Boswell (of Stewart McKelvey) and Honourable Alan Diner (Baker & McKenzie). These judges are replacing Justice Snider, who resigned in October 2013, Justice Harrington who elected to become a supernumerary judge as of April 2014 and Justice O’Keefe, who elected to become a supernumerary judge. Judicial appointments were also made today to the Ontario, Saskatchewan, Quebec, Nova Scotia and Alberta courts, including Justice Mainville, formerly of the Federal Court of Appeal, to the Quebec Court of Appeal.