In a decision issued today, Justice Hughes considered the breadth of the claims in the first [see update below] biologic patent infringement trial decision of the Federal Court. The patent at issue was found valid and infringed.
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IP at the USSC
On Friday, the United States Supreme Court granted cert in four IP related proceedings: POM Wonderful v. Coca-Cola – standing under the Lanham Act to challenge labelling; Limelight Networks v. Akamai Technologies – does inducing patent infringement require direct infringement; Nautilus v. Biosig Instruments – standard for indefiniteness in patent claims; and ABC, Inc., v. Aereo, Inc. – copyright infringement and public transmissions over the Internet.
Website outages
The Canadian Patent Office, the Federal Court and Federal Court of Appeal all have website outages this weekend.
Copyright Curiosity
Earlier today, the Supreme Court of Canada released its decision in Cinar Corporation v. Robinson, 2013 SCC 73. The Court upheld the findings of liability and modified the award of damages, including punitive damages. Some of the issues considered by the Court included determining “substantial part”, the admissibility of expert evidence, disgorgement of profits under the Copyright Act and punitive damages.
Canada Gazette Publication
A series of IP related regulations were published in today’s Canada Gazette (Part II): a) changes to the Patent Rules and Trade-mark Regulations relating to the agent examinations; b) changes to the Patent Rules relating to final actions and c) regulations associated with Canada’s anti-spam legislation. Check the specific regulations for the coming into force dates of each amendment.
Examinations
Changes have been made to the Patent Rules and Trade-marks Regulations governing the Patent Agent and Trade-mark Agent exams. The changes include more flexibility for scheduling the exams and requiring all new Trade-Mark Agents to have written the Trade-Mark Agent exam.
Final Action Regulations
Amendment to the Patent Rules were registered last week directed primarily to final action practice. These amendments follow from the consultations that took place 2012 and relate to amendments and practice after a final action and the Patent Appeal Board.
Private Labels
The Supreme Court of Canada issued its decision in Katz Group Canada Inc. v. Ontario (Health and Long‑Term Care), 2013 SCC 64 today, which upheld Ontario’s regulations of ‘private label’ generic drugs and dismissed the appeal by Shoppers and Katz.
Google Books
Judge Chin of the District Court of New York held today that the Google Books scanning project is ‘fair use’, granting Google’s motion for summary judgment. Google has scanned more than 20 million books and includes the results in its search engine. The Authors Guild and individual authors sued for copyright infringement and sought class action status. The Authors Guild has indicated it will appeal the decision.
European Trade Agreement
Canada and the EU have signed a trade agreement, CETA, which has several IP related provisions. Based on the government’s summary and media reports, these include geographic indicators, patent term extensions of up to two years and changes to the PM(NOC) Regulations.