Blog

May 23, 2017

SCOTUS Lands a Blow Against Patent Trolls by Limiting Patent Litigation Venues

581 U.S. ___ (2017) - SCOTUS reaffirmed one of its previous holdings to find that the proper venue for bringing a patent infringement suit against a domestic corporation is either where the defendant resides, or where the defendant has committed acts of infringement and has a regular place of business.
May 16, 2017

Dow Awarded an Accounting of Profits including Springboard Profits from Infringer’s Ramped-up Sales

2017 FC 350 - The Federal Court outlined in this decision how the Dow Chemical Company should be compensated by Nova Chemicals Corporation for its infringement of Dow’s patent.
May 9, 2017

Apotex’s Claims for Damages for Delayed Market Entry Allowed to Proceed

2017 ONSC 224 - Apotex sought compensation from Eli Lilly for damages suffered for delayed entry to the market for its generic version of olanzapine; the ONSC ordered Eli Lilly to pay Apotex a total of $20,000.
May 2, 2017

FCA Finds Provincial Limitation Periods May Apply to Patents Subject to the Old Patent Act

2017 FCA 9 - The FCA affirmed the FC decision that AstraZeneca’s patent was valid and infringed, accepted Apotex’s appeal with respects to limitation periods, and rejected AstraZeneca’s cross-appeal regarding punitive damages.
April 25, 2017

Federal Court finds foreign, non-exclusive licensee entitled to damages

2016 FC 593 - The FC awarded Janssen Canada and Janssen US almost $19 million in total damages for Teva's infringement of a Japanese entity's patent, for which Janssen US had never even exercised its licence in Canada.
April 18, 2017

SCOTUS affirms that design features incorporated into clothing may be eligible for copyright protection

580 U. S. (2017) - SCOTUS affirmed a lower court's decision that designs in the cheerleading uniforms designed, made and sold by Varsity were copyrightable material under section 101 of the Copyright Act of 1976.
April 11, 2017

FC Determines Improper Priority Claims Are Not Untrue Material Allegations

2016 FC 320 - The FC found that many of the claims in Uponor’s patent were invalid, rejected the untrue material allegation argument and found that several of the remaining claims were infringed by Heatlink and Pexcor.
April 4, 2017

FCA holds FC erred by rejecting relevance of non-infringing alternatives

2017 FCA 23 - The FCA found that the FC had erred by rejecting the relevance of non-infringing alternatives available to Apotex, so as to reduce the accounting of profits award to ADIR for infringement of its patent. The single issue was remitted back to the FC.
March 28, 2017

Federal Court of Appeal dismisses appeal for one of the biggest costs awards ever

2017 FCA 25 - The FCA dismissed Nova’s appeal of a FC judgment, which awarded Dow $6.5 million for costs in their successful action for patent infringement.
March 23, 2017

Canadian 2017 Budget Plan: A Focus on Innovation and IP

2017 Budget Plan - The Canadian Federal Government announced its Budget Plan for 2017, which proposes a number of positive changes to the Canadian intellectual property regime.
March 21, 2017

Ontario Superior Court Finds Grey Marketing Settlement Agreements Not Void for Restraint of Trade

2016 ONSC 7201 - The ONSC found Bemco to be in breach of its settlement agreement with Mars, and found Mars entitled to summary judgment. The settlement agreement was in relation to Bemco grey marketing Mars' goods.
March 14, 2017

Federal Court Grants Prohibition Order on Generic Psoriasis-treating Ointment

2015 FC 1237 - The FC heard and granted an application by Leo Pharma to prohibit Teva Canada from being issued a Notice of Compliance under the PM(NOC) Regulations.
March 10, 2017

Federal Court implies that it only has jurisdiction to expunge or vary titles to patents, not record documents to them

2016 FC 1092 - The FC heard and granted an order to vary the records of the Patent Office for Canadian Patent No. 2,630,594, but refused to order the recording of documents to it.
March 7, 2017

FC Removes Named Inventor from Patent Without Evidence That Remaining Named Individuals are the Only Inventors

2016 FC 499 - The FC allowed the removal of a named co-inventor from Canadian Patent No. 2,860,309, without requiring strict evidence that the remaining named individuals were the only inventors.
February 28, 2017

Patent Appeal Board Rejects Home Healthcare Administration System for Obviousness

PAB 1394 - The Patent Appeal Board rejected the “Home Health Point-Of-Care and Administration System” disclosed in Canadian Patent Application No. 2,579,081 for being obvious to a person skilled in the art.
February 21, 2017

Ontario Court of Appeal Refers Copyright Infringement Dispute to Trial for Reconsideration of Estoppel Defence

2016 ONCA 217 - The ONCA accepted the motion judge’s interpretation of the licensing agreement at issue, however, it set aside the dismissal of Symcor's defence of estoppel and referred this issue, along with a limitation period defence and assessment of damages, to trial.
February 14, 2017

FC Determines Use of Xpresspost(TM) is Delivery to a Designated Establishment

2016 FC 517 - The FC held that patent applicants and holders using Xpresspost(TM) need only submit correspondence for CIPO to a Canada Post location by the deadline, rather than ensure physical delivery is completed by the deadline. The decision saved Biogen’s response to a requisition in a conflict proceeding from being deemed abandoned.
February 7, 2017

FC Affirms Prothonotary Decision Allowing Action to Continue on Allegations of Likely Future (Quia Timet) Infringement

2016 FC 336 - The FC affirmed Prothonotary Tabib’s decision to strike some of Gilead Science's pleadings and allow the infringement action to continue on the basis of amended allegations of a likely future (quia timet) infringement.
February 3, 2017

Does the Patent Act provide a “complete code” of remedies? ONSC allows the argument to proceed that it may not

2016 ONSC 7193 - The ONSC heard pleadings by Apotex and Pfizer concerning Pfizer’s, now invalid, patent for Viagra. Apotex had previously been prevented from manufacturing its own generic because of the Viagra patent, and now claimed damages for the delay in being able to market its own variant. The appeal was dismissed and Apotex’s claim was allowed to proceed unstruck.
January 23, 2017

Patent Regulatory Regime Prohibits Parallel Consumer Civil Actions Rooted in Patent Act Breaches

2015 BCCA 506 - This BCCA decision confirmed that the patent regulatory regime – that being the Patent Act, the Patent Rules, the Food and Drugs Act, the Food and Drug Regulations, and the Patented Medicines (Notice of Compliance) Regulations, is a complete code which forecloses parallel civil actions rooted in a breach of the Patent Act.