The Federal Court has issued a revised Notice to the Profession on electronic service and filing of documents. Starting on March 1, 2013, the Federal Court will be using its own system for electronic filing, replacing the LexisNexis system used since 2009.
Amendments to Federal Courts Rules
Amendments have been made to the Federal Courts Rules relating to scheduling of general sittings, format of documents, notices of appearances in applications, increasing minimum lead time to file motion materials, and other “miscellaneous” amendments.
Judicial Appointments
In an announcement today, the Honourable Justice David Near was elevated from the Federal Court to the Federal Court of Appeal and the Honourable Justice Peter Annis of the Ontario Superior Court was appointed to the Federal Court. Judicial appointments were also made today in Ontario, Newfoundland & Labrador, Alberta and Quebec.
Top Canadian Patentees for 2012
Research In Motion tops the list of owners receiving the most Canadian patents during 2012. The others in the top five were Qualcomm, P&G, Schlumberger and LG Electronics. Approximately 20,000 Canadian patents were granted last year.
Canadian Trademark Firms for 2012
As mentioned earlier this month, about 50,000 trademark applications were filed in Canada in 2012. Of these, about 20% were filed in-house or without an agent (about the same as in 2011). Gowlings, Smart & Biggar and Bereskin & Parr were the firms that filed the most trademark applications. Check out my list of the 50 firms/agents that filed the most applications in 2012.
Top Trademark Filers for 2012
Just over 50,000 trademarks were filed in Canada last year. Procter & Gamble and L’Oreal tied with over 200 new trademark application filed in 2012 and Target Brands broke into the top five.
Changes to Health Canada Generics Screening Process
The Therapeutic Products Directorate of Health Canada has published an updated screening criteria for processing ANDS and SANDS pre-market submissions to replace the Integrated Review Process along with an attestation checklist required for submissions made after February 1, 2013.
Continue reading Changes to Health Canada Generics Screening Process
Patented Medicine Litigation
I’ve updated my list of Federal Court patented medicine litigation organized by medicinal ingredient to include more Section 8 proceedings. Any comments or suggestions are appreciated.
Top Cited Decisions for 2012
Trademark confusion, damages proceedings under the PM(NOC) Regulations and inventive concept were the big issues for 2012 based on an analysis of the reported intellectual property decisions from the Federal Court and Federal Court of the Appeal during the past year. The Supreme Court’s 2006 Mattel decision was the most frequently cited decision.
Proposed Anti-Spam Regulations
Industry Canada has published proposed Electronic Commerce Protection Regulations in Part I of the Canada Gazette for consultation. The regulations follow an earlier round of consultations in 2011 and the CRTC’s regulations and guidelines for Canada’s anti-spam legislation.