There are reports of plans to amend the Copyright Act to provide an exception for political advertising. The exception would permit free use of news content by political actors without requiring rights holder authorization.
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Proposed Trademark Regulations
CIPO has published proposed amendments to the Trademark Regulations to go with the amendments to the Trademarks Act (Bill C-31) made in June 2014. The proposed regulations deal with almost all aspects of trademark law including correspondence, applications, Nice classifications, the Madrid Protocol, oppositions and cancellation procedures.
Competition and Patents
The Competition Bureau has released a couple of documents on competition issues and patents, addressing among other things non-use of an IP right and potentially anti-competitive patent litigation settlement agreements.
Trade-mark Agent Exams
The Canadian Intellectual Property Office has announced that the Trade-mark Agent Qualifying Examination will be held on November 25, 2014 with a deadline for applying of September 4, 2014. This is the first examination since the exemption for lawyers was removed.
US Performance Rights
A majority of the United States Supreme Court ruled in American Broadcasting Cos. v. Aereo, Inc. that Aereo transmits a performance to the public by sending television signals it receives over the air from individual antennas to subscribers over the internet.
Alice v CLS Bank
The United States Supreme Court affirmed the en banc CAFC decision in Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank Int’l that the claims were directed to a patent-ineligible abstract idea.
Notice and Notice
The government announced today that the “Notice and Notice” provisions of the Copyright Modernization Act will come into force in January 2015 without additional regulations.
Three Federal Court Judges Appointed
Three new Federal Court judges were appointed today: Honourable Henry S. Brown (of Gowlings), Honourable Keith M. Boswell (of Stewart McKelvey) and Honourable Alan Diner (Baker & McKenzie). These judges are replacing Justice Snider, who resigned in October 2013, Justice Harrington who elected to become a supernumerary judge as of April 2014 and Justice O’Keefe, who elected to become a supernumerary judge. Judicial appointments were also made today to the Ontario, Saskatchewan, Quebec, Nova Scotia and Alberta courts, including Justice Mainville, formerly of the Federal Court of Appeal, to the Quebec Court of Appeal.
Proposed Amendments to Official Marks
A Private Members Bill, An Act to amend the Trade-marks Act (public authority), was introduced yesterday proposing changes to the Official Marks regime under the Trade-marks Act. The proposed changes include an opposition procedure and periodic renewals.
US Supreme Court on Patents
Today, the United States Supreme Court issued two decisions on patents. In Limelight Networks v. Akamai Tech the Court held that direct infringement was required for a finding of inducing infringed. In Nautilus v. BioSig the Court considered patent claim indefiniteness.