Amazon.com’s “one-click” patent granted after being litigated to the Federal Court of Appeal on the issue of patentable subject matter (2011 FCA 328), expired today.
Tag Archives: Patents
Trademarks and Patents
Amendments to the Trade-mark Act and Patent Act, Patent Rules and Trademark Regulations are being made as of November 5, 2018 to amend the procedures on CIPO holidays and force majeure events, and as of June 2018 to patent reinstatements .
Lots of Patents
USPTO granted patent No. 10,000,000 entitled, “Coherent LADAR using intra-pixel quadrature detection” to Raytheon today. CIPO allocated patent application 3,000,000 in April of this year.
Happy World IP Day
A number of interesting announcements on World IP Day. The focus of the international focus on IP was on Powering change: Women in innovation and creativity. In Canada, the government announced a National IP Strategy having a number of components including $85.3 million over five years to help Canadian businesses, creators, entrepreneurs and innovators understand, protect and access IP. Announced for IP tools, was more efficient dispute resolution and tariff setting at the Federal Court (more judges) and Copyright Board through more funding, formation of a patent collective, improvements to IP used in standards-setting processes, and an IP-specific marketplace. Announced legislative changes include:
- establishing minimum requirements for patent demand letters;
- excluding settlement demands from the copyright Notice and Notice regime;
- Requiring ‘use’ of a trademark to enforce it within the first three years;
- affirming the patent research exemption;
- clarifying the role of standard essential patents;
- allowing continued use of IP by licensees in liquidation proceedings; and
- creating a College of Patent and Trademark Agents to regulate agents.
In Europe, the UK announced today that it had ratified the Unified Patent Court (UPC) Agreement.
IPRs
The United States Supreme Court issued its decision in Oil States Energy Services, LLC v. Greene’s Energy Group, LLC (link), where a majority found that the USPTO’s inter partes reviews (IPRs) were constitutional. In the proceeding, the petitioner had argued that actions to revoke a patent must be tried in an Article III court before a jury, rather than through an administrative procedure.
3,000,000
CIPO announced today that it has allocated patent application number 3,000,000. This is the one-millionth ‘New Act’ patent application.
Certificate of Supplementary Protection
The first Certificate of Supplementary Protection has issued, providing two years of protection. Twelve applications for certificates of supplementary protection have been filed since the regulations came into force in September 2017. Continue reading Certificate of Supplementary Protection
PMPRB
Proposed “Regulations Amending the Patented Medicines Regulations” have been published in the Canada Gazette for a 75 day consultation. According to the Regulatory Impact Analysis Statement, “This proposal would amend the Patented Medicines Regulations (“Regulations”) so that the PMPRB’s regulatory framework includes new price regulatory factors and patentee price information reporting requirements that will help the PMPRB to protect Canadian consumers from excessive prices.”
IPRs
Today, the United States Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Oil States v. Greene’s Energy on the propriety of inter partes review (IPRs). One of the issues before the court was whether IPRs violate the U.S. constitution by extinguishing private property rights through a non-Article III forum without a jury.
CETA
Changes to the Patent Act, Patent Rules, Patented Medicines (Notice of Compliance) Regulations and the Trade-marks Act, and new Certificate of Supplemental Protection Regulations come into force on September 21, 2017 as part of Canada’s implementation of CETA. Today, Health Canada released guidance documents on applying for Certificates of Supplementary Protection and on Health Canada’s administration of the PM(NOC) Regulations.