The Supreme Court of Canada will be hearing AstraZeneca Canada Inc. v. Apotex Inc. on November 8, 2016 on the promised utility doctrine. Several intervenors have now filed materials on the promise doctrine: Intellectual Property Institute of Canada (IPIC), International Federation of Intellectual Property Attorneys (FICPI), Innovative Medicines Canada, BioteCanada, Intellectual Property Owners Association (IPO), Centre for Intellectual Property Policy (CIPP) and Canadian Generic Pharmaceutical Association (CGPA).
Tag Archives: Patent
Patent Experts
My recent column on the use of experts in patent cases was published last week on Slaw.ca. It touches on some of the recent developments in this area including the updated guidelines on experimental testing, blinding of experts and number of experts in bifurcated proceedings. Continue reading Patent Experts
Enhanced Damages
The United States Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision today in Halo Electronics Inc. v. Pulse Electronics Inc. relating to the ability of district courts to award treble damages in patent infringement proceedings, rejecting limits arising from Court of Appeal for the Federal Circuit decisions.
CIPO Fees
CIPO has opened consultations on proposed fees for various steps under upcoming amended Patent and Trademark rules. These steps include fees per Nice Classifications and renewal fees for trademarks and correction, after-allowance amendments and late fees for patents. The consultation is open until July 5, 2016.
Patents and Competition
My recent column on the Canadian Competition Bureau’s new Intellectual Property Enforcement Guidelines, patent pooling, PAEs and standard-essential-patents as applied to tech patents, was published earlier this month.
Patent Volume in 2015
The number of patent applications published in 2015 or that entered national phase in Canada in 2015 was approximately the same as in 2014 at about 33,500 application. Smart & Biggar, Gowlings and BLG top the list of firms by volume of applications.
Promise
The Supreme Court of Canada granted leave today in AstraZeneca Canada Inc., et al. v. Apotex Inc., et al. (Esomeprazole), which considers, among other things, the promised utility doctrine in Canada. More details below.
Gene Patents
For those following Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario’s challenge to the validity of certain gene patents in the Federal Court (T-2249-14 – see earlier post), CHEO has announced a settlement: “the patent holder Transgenomic has agreed to provide CHEO and all other Canadian public sector hospitals and laboratories the right to test Canadians for Long QT syndrome on a not-for-profit basis”.