Blog

July 17, 2013

Supreme Court Upholds a Robust Doctrine of Settlement Privilege

Sable Offshore Energy Inc. v. Ameron International Corporation et al. – 2013 SCC 37 Sable sued a number of defendants for supplying it with corrosion-resisting paint […]
July 16, 2013

PAB Applies Amazon, Finds a Computer-Implemented Method of Communicating the Cost of Insurance to Be Patentable Subject Matter

Re. Patent Application No. 2,344,781, CD 1336 This is an Appeal Board decision regarding patent application number 2,344,781 entitled "Monitoring System for Determining and Communicating a […]
July 11, 2013

PAB Applies Amazon, Finds a Tax Calculation System to Be Patentable Subject Matter

Re. Patent Application No. 2306540, CD 1334 This patent application concerned the tracking of required payments or refunds of value added taxes for mailpieces. The Final […]
July 3, 2013

FC Construes Claim, Holds “a” Means “one”

Zero Spill Systems (Int’l) Inc. v. 614248 Alberta Ltd. – 2013 FC 616 This action concerns allegations of infringement of two Canadian Patents No. 2,258,064 (064 […]
July 3, 2013

FC Gives Rule 3.1 a Liberal Interpretation, Reverses CIPO’s Decision Refusing National Phase Entry Due to Insufficient Fees

Karolinska Institutet Innovations AB v. Attorney General of Canada, 2013 FC 715 The Applicant attempted to file a patent application with the Canadian Intellectual Property Office […]
July 3, 2013

In Echo of SCC’s Sildenafil Decision, the US CAFC Upholds Invalidation of Claims to a Family of Compounds for Non-enablement

Wyeth v. Abbot Labs (Fed. Cir. 2013) Wyeth appealed from the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey’s grant of summary judgment that claims […]
July 3, 2013

ONCA Holds Pre-contractual Expenses Are Recoverable Only If the Parties Reasonably Contemplated that the Expenses Would Likely Be Wasted In the Event of Breach

PreMD Inc. v. Ogilvy Renault LLP, 2013 ONCA 412 This appeal and cross-appeal concerned the measure of damages for Ogilvy’s negligence and breach of contract in […]
June 28, 2013

FC Orders Costs Against Teva for Filing a NOA, Triggering PM(NOC) Proceedings

Eli Lilly Canada Inc. v. Teva Canada Limited – 2013 FC 621               Eli Lilly sought an Order for costs in connection with the Court’s earlier dismissal […]
June 20, 2013

Federal Court Rules It Has Personal Jurisdiction over Provincial Crown Defendants in Proceedings Seeking Remedies under the Patent Act

Safe Gaming Systems Inc. v. Atlantic Lottery Corporation, 2013 FC 217   Before filing their defences to this patent infringement action, the Defendants moved to strike […]
June 19, 2013

Several Key IP Issues Addressed in the Government’s Response to the INDU Report “Intellectual Property Regime in Canada”

Full text of the government’s response The Honourable Christian Paradis responded on behalf of the Government of Canada to the recommendations made by the Standing Committee […]
June 17, 2013

US Supreme Court Holds Isolated Naturally-Occurring DNA Segments Are Products of Nature and Not Patent Eligible

Association for Molecular Pathology v Myriad Genetics Inc, US SC No 12–398 (2013) - The US Supreme Court must determined that a naturally occurring DNA segment is a product of nature and not patent eligible merely because it has been isolated, but cDNA is patent eligible because it is not naturally occurring.
June 13, 2013

CIPO Reiterates Problem-Solution Approach in New Examination Practice Respecting Medical Uses

Effective June 10, 2013  PN2013-04 This Practice Notice builds upon the guidance in section 17.02.03 (Medical and surgical methods) of MOPOP and in PN 2013-02 (Examination […]
June 13, 2013

SCC Revises its Sildenafil Decision, Withdraws Holding that Pfizer’s Patent Is Void

Teva Canada Limited v. Pfizer Canada Inc. (33951) The Supreme Court has revised its Sildenafil (Viagra) decision (2012 SC 60). The Court granted, in part, Pfizer’s […]
June 7, 2013

ONSC Awards Substantial Indemnity Costs against Apotex in Equitable Disgorgement Case

Apotex Inc. v. Abbott Laboratories, 2013 ONSC 2958 Apotex sought equitable disgorgement of profits of Abbott and Takeda, on the ground of unjust enrichment. Specifically, Apotex […]
June 7, 2013

FC Clarifies Purposive Construction of Product-by-Process Claims

Bayer Inc. v. Cobalt Pharmaceuticals, 2013 FC 573 Bayer sought an order prohibiting the Minister of Health from issuing a Notice of Compliance (NOC) to Cobalt, […]
May 29, 2013

PM(NOC): s. 8 Issues Circumscribed by Antecedent s. 6 Proceeding; s. 6 Claim Construction Binding on s. 8 Proceeding in Absence of Strong Reason to the Contrary

Apotex Inc. v Pfizer Canada Inc. – 2013 FC 493 Apotex claimed damages under s. 8 of the PM(NOC) Regulations on grounds that it incurred a […]
May 29, 2013

New Zealand Moves to Exclude Software “as such” from Patentable Subject Matter

Link to the proposed amendments to the Patents Bill.   Rather than excluding a computer program from being a patentable invention, the amendments clarify that a computer program […]
May 29, 2013

Proposed Patent Quality Improvement Act to Assist US Defendants Facing Spurious Infringement Suits Brought by NPEs

Link to full text of the proposed Act.  The Patent Quality Improvement Act amends the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act to remove the eight-year sunset provision with respect […]
May 22, 2013

English Court of Appeal Applies Symbian and AT&T, Revives Apple’s Multi-touch Patent

HTC v. Apple, [2013] EWCA Civ 451 (Court of Appeals of England and Wales)    Per Kitchin L.J. (Richards L.J. concurring): This appeal was concerned with […]
May 3, 2013

PMPRB’s Copaxone Decision Unreasonable in its Application of s. 85(1) of the Patent Act

Teva Canada Innovation v. Canada (Attorney General), 2013 FC 448 Teva asked the Court to set aside a decision of the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board […]