The Ontario Court has released a decision this week in The Commissioner of Competition v. Yellow Page Marketing, 2012 ONSC 927 which found that, contrary to the Competition Act, the respondents had made material false or misleading representations intending to deceive Canadians into believing they were dealing with the Yellow Pages Group, owner of the Yellow Pages trademark and walking fingers design.
Copyright in Prior Art
Two publishers have launched copyright infringement actions against two U.S. law firms for allegedly reproducing copies of publications and submitting copies to the United States Patent Office as prior art.
Copyright class action against Thomson Reuters
The Ontario Superior Court has granted certification in the class action against Thomson Reuters/Carswell for copyright infringement over allegations of reproducing copies of court filed documents. The class includes lawyers in private practice who have authored materials filed with the courts and reproduced in Carswell’s “Litigator” offering.
Continue reading Copyright class action against Thomson Reuters
Top cases cited in IP decisions in 2011
Utility, selection patents and sound prediction were key issues identified in an analysis of the cases cited in the 132 IP decisions released in 2011 by the Federal Court and Federal Court of Appeal. The most cited cases related to standard of review, and from the Supreme Court, the 2008 Sanofi decision, Whirlpool, Consolboard and Wellcome.
Copyright updates
The European Court of Justice released a decision last week in SABAM vs Netlog (C-360/10) denying a request that a social network site install general filters against the exchange of copyrighted music and videos. In Canadian copyright news, Bill C-11, the copyright amendment Bill went to committee with a schedule to review the bill by the end of March.
SCC decisions
The Supreme Court of Canada has released a couple of decisions of interest – Merck Frosst Canada Ltd. v.Canada (Health), 2012 SCC 3 relating to trade secrets and access to information of Health Canada drug submissions and Reference re Broadcasting Act, 2012 SCC 4 which determined that Internet Service Providers were not ‘broadcasters’ under the Broadcasting Act.
SCC adjourns Sildenafil hearing
The Supreme Court has adjourned the hearing in the appeal of the sildenafil PM(NOC) application on the sufficiency of disclosure. The hearing had been scheduled for tomorrow but is now tentatively scheduled for April 20, 2012.
Eurocopter v. Bell Helicopter trial decision
The Federal Court released a decision earlier this week after the trial in the patent infringement action Eurocopter v. Bell Helicopter, 2012 FC 113 finding a claim of the patent valid and infringed. The Court also awarded punitive damages. Continue reading Eurocopter v. Bell Helicopter trial decision
Provincial IP decisions – trade secrets and descriptiveness
From the Ontario Court, in Paradigm Shift Technologies Inc. v. Alexander Oudovikine, 2012 ONSC 148, the court rejected a motion for an interlocutory injunction on alleged trade secrets held by an ex-employee. In Boulangerie St-Méthode v. Boulangerie Canada Bread, 2012 QCCS 83, the Quebec Court considered distinctiveness and descriptiveness of the mark « sans gras sans sucre » for bread.
CAFC on computer claims in DealerTrack
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit released a decision today in DealerTrack v. Huber on the patentability of computer claims. It held that claims “for executing a computer program” were means-plus-function limited to the algorithms in the specification and “computer aided” limitations did not render claims patentable subject matter.