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.
Amazon.com follow up
While we wait for the judgment from the Federal Court of Appeal in the Amazon.com proceeding on the patentability of business methods, I thought I would post a few remaining items from the case.
I had previously posted copies of the Appellant’s Factum and the Respondent’s Factum. Copies of the Intervener’s Factum and the Respondent’s Reply to the Intervener are now also available.
There are a few reports from the hearing including from Nora Sleeth at Osgoode Hall Law School and Chris Heer of Bennett Jones.
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!
Interlocutory injunction denied in Esomeprazole-Apotex
In a decision published yesterday, Justice Crampton of the Federal Court denied Astrazeneca’s request for an interlocutory injunction against Apotex. The decision is Astrazeneca Canada Inc. v. Apotex Inc., 2011 FC 505 (Esomeprazole) in T-1668-10 and follows a PM(NOC) proceeding in which Apotex’s allegations of invalidity against at least some of the patents were found justified (T-371-08). The decision has already been appealed and the appeal dismissed by the Federal Court of Appeal (A-180-11).
Professor Norman Siebrasse of University of New Brunswick and author of the Sufficient Description blog, has an interesting discussion of the test for an interlocutory injunction in the context of this decision.
U.S. Patent News
The U.S. House and Senate have now both passed patent reform legislation which would make the U.S. patent system first-to-file. Earlier today, the U.S. Supreme Court granted cert in Hyatt (relating to appeals from the USPTO) and Caraco v. Novo Nordisk (relating to FDA patent listings).
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.
Particulars needed for pleading patent infringement
In a decision published today, the Federal Court of Appeal upheld a lower court decision striking the plaintiff’s further amended statement of claim on the basis that it did not provide sufficient details of the defendant’s activity that would constitute infringement. The Court upheld the view that the allegations were not on any knowledge or evidence of the plaintiff of the defendant’s activities and the plaintiff hoped to fill in the gaps in its knowledge through discovery. Continue reading Particulars needed for pleading patent infringement