On Thursday, the Supreme Court of Canada granted leave to appeal in the case of Google Inc. v. Equustek Solutions Inc., et. al, an appeal from a British Columbia Court of Appeal decision, in which a broad worldwide injunction was granted restraining Google, a non-party to the action, from including the defendants’ websites in Google’s search results.
Tag Archives: Supreme Court of Canada
SCC and Technological Neutrality
The Supreme Court of Canada released an important ruling today on the role of technological neutrality in copyright law. In a 7-2 split decision in Canadian Broadcasting Corporation/Société Radio-Canada v. SODRAC 2003 Inc., et al., Justice Rothstein writing for the majority affirmed the principle of technological neutrality and held that royalties must be paid for ephemeral copies of works made by broadcasters for the purpose of facilitating broadcasting. However the majority also remanded a determination of the value of the licenses for those copyrights to the Copyright Board in order to take into account technological neutrality. A strong dissent by Justice Abella (agreed to in part by Justice Karakatsanis) disagreed that copyright applied to ephemeral copies, at all.
Continue reading SCC and Technological Neutrality
Supreme Court
Yesterday, the Supreme Court of Canada issued an oral judgment at the hearing of Sanofi’s appeal in the ramipril Section 8 proceeding, dismissing the appeal with costs.
Section 8 at the SCC
On Monday, April 20th, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Sanofi-Aventis’ appeal in Apotex’s Ramipril proceeding pursuant to Section 8 of the Patented Medicine (Notice of Compliance Regulations). The appeal is from the March 2014 split decision of the Federal Court of Appeal in 2014 FCA 68 relating to among other things the ‘hypothetical world’, the ramp-up period and non-indicated uses.
Updates
Here are some updates on previously posted items:
- the webcast of the Supreme Court of Canada’s hearing earlier this month on technological neutrality has been posted;
- Industry Canada has updated its post on proposed amendments to the Patented Medicine (Notice of Compliance) Regulations to indicate that the proposed changes relating to the listing of patents claiming single medicinal ingredients found in combination drugs may be published in the Canada Gazette, Part 1 in 2015.
- CIPO has updated its notice on its Forward Regulatory Plan, to indicate that publication of proposed changes to the Trade-mark Regulations (Accession to trademark treaties and modernization of Canada’s trademark regime), Industrial Design Regulations (Hague Agreement) and Patent Rules (Patent Law Treaty) for consultation in Canada Gazette, Part 1 is “expected late 2016”.
Technology Neutrality
On Monday, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in CBC v. SODRAC, an appeal from the Federal Court of Appeal’s decision on what copyright royalties are payable on ephemeral copies under the principles of technology neutrality.
SCC
Tomorrow, the Supreme Court of Canada was scheduled to hear arguments in Apotex Inc., et al. v. Sanofi-Aventis, et al. (Plavix/clopidogrel), including on the issue of patent utility/promise but this afternoon the Court announced that the hearing will NOT go ahead. Apotex has discontinued its appeal. Continue reading SCC
Status of the Artist
Last month, the Supreme Court granted the appeal in Canadian Artists’ Representation v. National Gallery of Canada at the hearing and today, issued its reasons. The Court held that minimum fees for the provision of artists’ copyrights for existing works are eligible for inclusion in scale agreements under the Status of the Artist Act and were not contrary to the Copyright Act.
Status of the Artist
At the hearing of Canadian Artists’ Representation/Front des artistes canadiens et al. v. National Gallery of Canada today, the Supreme Court of Canada allowed the appeal and indicated an oral judgment would follow. The proceeding related to the interplay of the Status of the Artist Act and the Copyright Act.
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.