Patent

November 14, 2017
insomnia

Federal Court finds Insomnia-treating Drug Patent neither Invalid nor Infringed

2016 FC 1362 - The formulation patent for the insomnia-treating drug zolpidem was found to be substantially valid, but not infringed by Pharmascience's generic version of zolpidem.
November 7, 2017
tadalafil

Apotex Fails to Change FCA’s Opinion in Tadalafil Case

2016 FCA 267 - Apotex unsuccessfully sought to show that the FCA had erred in another decision by not following the SCC's decision in Whirlpool. Apotex also unsuccessfully argued that the FC had erred by finding the tadalafil patent to have sufficient disclosure.
October 24, 2017

Federal Court Adjourns Motion for Confidentiality Order

2017 FC 548 - In this application for judicial review over s. 5 of the PM(NOC) Regulations, the FC agreed with the AG who argued that since another innovator also had patents listed on the Patent Register pertaining to products to which Innovator Company made comparisons, the other innovator was a necessary respondent to the application.
October 17, 2017

U.S. Federal Circuit Deems Software Innovation is Patent-Eligible, But Not Infringed

2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 8699 (Fed. Cir. 2016) - The US CAFC reversed the decision of a district court in part, finding that the claims in a software patent were patent-eligible, and reversed the finding that the claims were anticipated, but affirmed the district court’s decision that there was no infringement.
October 10, 2017
insufficient disclosure

Federal Court of Appeal Upholds Finding of Insufficient Disclosure

2017 FCA 161 - The FCA dismissed Idenix's appeal to a FC decision in which Idenix's Canadian patent was found invalid for insufficient disclosure and its counterclaim against Gilead was dismissed.
October 3, 2017
Federal Court Section 7

Federal Court dismisses Section 7(a) Trade-marks Act claim over lack of causal link

2016 FC 986 - The FC dismissed Supertek's claim that Mishan engaged in conduct contrary to Section 7(a) of the Trade-marks Act, in relation to a Canadian patent.
September 19, 2017

Federal Court finds Expert Blinding to be One Factor in Assessing Weight Given to Expert Evidence

2016 FC 857 - The FC granted Gilead’s application for an order prohibiting the Minister of Health from issuing a Notice of Compliance to Apotex in respect of its Notice of Allegation until the expiry of Gilead’s Canadian patent.
September 12, 2017
application

Federal Court Deems Patent Application “Dead” Following Failure to Respond to Requisition

2017 FC 402 - The FC dismissed the University of Alberta’s application for judicial review of three CIPO decisions, effectively refusing to declare the patent application in question in good standing following the failure of the original applicants to reply to a requisition and to apply to reinstate the application within the 12-month grace period.
September 5, 2017

Canada’s Federal Court Confirms it has Exclusive Jurisdiction to Amend an Issued Patent

2016 FC 229 - The FC heard and granted an uncontested application by Novartis, pursuant to sections 31(3) and 52 of the Patent Act, to vary all entries in the records of the Patent Office with regards to the inventorship of a Canadian Patent.
August 29, 2017

Federal Court Awards Dow over $644 Million in Damages

2017 FC 637 - The FC addressed three outstanding issues in the calculation of damages and profits and ordered Nova to pay Dow over $644 million for infringing Dow's Canadian patent.
August 22, 2017

Federal Court of Appeal remits decision based on hearsay evidence back to the Federal Court for redetermination

2016 FCA 161 - The FCA remitted a proceeding back to the FC for redetermination after agreeing with Pfizer that part of Teva’s evidence in the FC decision was based on hearsay.
August 15, 2017

Federal Court Rejects Bayer’s Request for Corrected Priority Date

2017 FC 178 - The FC dismissed a request by Bayer for judicial review of a Commissioner’s decision refusing to change the priority filing date for Bayer’s Canadian patent application, based on provisions in the Patent Act and Patent Rules relating to priority claims.
August 8, 2017

IPTV case shows that Interpretation of IT Patents may be 0’s or 1’s

2017 FC 6 - MediaTube brought allegations of infringement against Bell over one of its IT patents, asserting that Bell had infringed the patent with Bell’s IPTV services. The FC deemed the patent to be valid, but not infringed. Costs were decided in Bell’s favour and elevated to reflect the punitive damages claimed by MediaTube and the weak argument they had put forth.
August 1, 2017

Federal Court of Canada finds that complexity of issues or conflicting evidence are not bars to a summary trial

2016 FC 1117 - Cascade brought a claim that Kinshofer had infringed its Canadian patent related to a safety locking device for quick couplers. After carrying out a claim construction, the FC did not find that the patent had been infringed.
July 25, 2017

FC Awards Costs Award at 50% Elevation of Tariff B Due to Poor Conduct

Pollard Banknote Limited v Babn Technologies Corp, 2016 FC 1193 Poor conduct during patent litigation can result in significantly elevated costs awards, even if the conduct […]
July 18, 2017

Federal Court of Canada Dismisses Motion for Interlocutory Injunction and Orders Security for Costs

2016 FC 606 - The FC dismissed TearLab’s application for an interlocutory injunction preventing I-MED from selling its i-Pen System, and ordered TearLab to pay security for costs.
July 5, 2017

FC Strikes PM(NOC) Application Due to No Chance of Success

2016 FC 525 - The Federal Court granted Celltrion’s motion to strike Janssen’s application pursuant to section 6(5)(b) of the PM(NOC) Regulations.
June 30, 2017

Canada’s Supreme Court Abolishes Controversial “Promise Doctrine”

2017 SCC 36 - The Supreme Court of Canada struck down the “promise doctrine” of Canadian patent law in favour of merely requiring a single use related to the nature of the subject-matter of the invention having a scintilla of utility.
June 27, 2017

ICSID Tribunal dismisses Eli Lilly’s NAFTA claim against Canada

Case No. UNCT/14/2 - An ICSID Tribunal dismissed Eli Lilly’s claim against Canada, which was brought in relation to two Canadian patents owned by Eli Lilly that had been invalidated for failing to provide the utility they promised.
June 13, 2017

FC Denies Prohibition Order Request; Finds Expert Blinding Persuasive But Not Primary Interest

2016 FC 382 - The FC concluded that Apotex’s allegations of non-infringement in respect of Shire's Canadian Patent were justified and accordingly denied Shire’s requested prohibition order.