Summary
April 11, 2022
New trademark registrations can be opposed by business owners who are concerned that the mark would cause confusion with their own registered trademark.
March 7, 2022
Travel Sentry, Inc. v David A. Tropp, No. 2021-1908 (Fed. Cir., Feb. 14, 2022). The patents claimed an economic practice and method of organizing human activity, which is not subject-matter that can be protected under the patent system.
February 24, 2022
The US CAFC ruled that an examiner is a "person of ordinary skill in the art" and is owed an appropriate level of deference.
February 3, 2022
Canada's Federal Court dismissed allegations by Paid Search Engine that Google infringed a patent for optimizing paid search engines.
January 27, 2022
The prior use defence allows a business to continue activities that would otherwise be patent infringement, if the activities pre-date the filing date of the patent.
January 24, 2022
Outside Canada, Teva’s Copaxone® 40mg/mL dosing patents have been invalidated for obviousness, making way for generic competitors.
January 13, 2022
Some of the most common errors made in patent applications are in the naming of applicants and inventors. If the mistake is not caught in time, it can cause a nasty headache for the patent owner.
December 29, 2021
The Federal Court of Appeal held that the trial judge cannot intervene in a trademark opposition decision in the absence of any errors by the Board.
December 14, 2021
Four years after the Federal Court of Appeal denied copyright protection for TRREB's real estate database, the fight to control that data continues.
December 6, 2021
The Federal Court has limited the scope of patent agent privilege to communications directly related to the protection of patent rights.
November 23, 2021
Health Canada refused to grant a natural health product license to Canada RNA Biochemical Inc. for its oral lumbrokinase capsules marketed as "Boluke".
November 15, 2021
2021 CACP 42: Cementing its post-Choueifaty approach to patentable subject-matter in Canada, the PAB found all claimed elements to be essential in the computer-implemented invention.
November 2, 2021
Fed. Cir. No. 2020-2044: The Federal Circuit found that the patents were directed to an abstract idea, with no additional elements to transform them into patentable subject-matter.
August 23, 2021
2021 FCA 166: The Federal Court of Appeal's observations on the use of prosecution history demonstrate that courts continue to adapt to recent amendments to patent law.
August 18, 2021
The Australian Federal Court recently recognized that an artificial intelligence can be listed as an inventor under the Australian Patent Act.
August 9, 2021
2021 FCA 154: The FCA held that overbreadth is not an “improper re-emergence of the promise doctrine”. Overbreadth is supported by bargain theory and s. 27 of the Act.
July 27, 2021
2021 FCA 137: On July 12, 2021, the Federal Court of Appeal issued a decision dismissing an application for judicial review of a decision of the Minister of Health denying data protection for a drug. Janssen Inc. had sought protection for its drug SPRAVATO but was rejected on the basis that it was not an “innovative drug” eligible for such protection.
July 7, 2021
Fed. Cir. No. 2020-1760: The CAFC sided with Apple and Samsung, finding a patent for an “improved” digital camera to be an abstract idea and not patent-eligible subject matter.
June 21, 2021
2021 FCA 100: A recent decision affirms the Federal Court's power to make site-blocking orders requiring third-party ISPs to limit access to copyright-infringing content.
June 7, 2021
2021 CACP 9, 2021 CACP 12: In two recent decisions involving software patents, the Patent Appeal Board found the inventions to be directed to patentable subject-matter