Fed. Cir. 2021-2063, 2021-2065: Sales of a product can be used to prove the inventiveness of a patent, but a US court warns that free samples are not relevant to patentability.
US Supreme Court, No. 22-148: Parodies are generally immune from trademark infringement, but how much can you spoof? Jack Daniels hounded a dog toy company for making a copycat toy.
No. 21-757 (Supreme Court May 18, 2023) The Supreme Court of the United States applied bargain theory in its long-awaited decision regarding the enablement requirement of the Patent Act.
Fed. Cir. No. 2021-2320, 2021-2376: Typically patent drafters omit phrases like “at least one” from patent claims to improve readability, but a recent court decision may reverse the trend.
CAFC No. 22-1595: In this precedential decision on induced infringement, the Federal Circuit clarified that “past conduct is relevant to what will happen in the future”.
The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit found that dependent claims invalidated by collateral estoppel also invalidated the parental independent claim.
2022 SCC 43: The Supreme Court of Canada handed down a decision that awards Dow Chemical $644 million—the largest monetary offering in a Canadian patent lawsuit.
2022 QCCQ 6675: Operating as "Fédération des Inventors du Québec", Varin offered to protect inventions but never filed a single patent application at CIPO.
2022 FCA 118: The appeal court saw no reason to interfere with a trial court decision that favoured MEG Energy in its ongoing patent dispute with inventor Jason Swist.
In 2021, the Federal Court found GreenBlue infringed Deeproot's patents and granted an injunction. In 2022, the court was unconvinced that GreenBlue violated the injunction.
Under the “on-sale bar”, privately offering to sell an invention before filing a patent application can void the patent rights in all but a few permissible scenarios.
The Federal Court disagreed with Health Canada's interpretation of data protection regulations, once again reversing approval of pediatric drug RUZURGI.
New trademark registrations can be opposed by business owners who are concerned that the mark would cause confusion with their own registered trademark.
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.