Patents
Case summaries and articles about patents.
March 22, 2023
2023 FC 115: The Court found that the omission of the third inventor was a result of inadvertence, rather than delay, and allowed the correction.
February 3, 2023
Most major countries in the world, including the USA and China, require innovators to secure a “foreign filing license” before they can seek patent protection in a foreign country. Canada has no such regime, but perhaps it's time.
January 20, 2023
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”.
January 5, 2023
Starting on February 1st, the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) will offer accelerated examination for patent applications aimed at preventing cancer and cancer mortality.
December 22, 2022
The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit found that dependent claims invalidated by collateral estoppel also invalidated the parental independent claim.
November 29, 2022
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.
October 25, 2022
2022 QCCQ 6675: Operating as "Fédération des Inventors du Québec", Varin offered to protect inventions but never filed a single patent application at CIPO.
September 30, 2022
If we reframe the question of “Should AI be named an inventor?” in the context of incentivizing innovation, we get a much more elegant question.
August 18, 2022
2022 FCA 142: The Court also commented on the relevant date for determining if an invention has been sufficiently described in the patent application.
June 30, 2022
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.
June 20, 2022
2022 FC 923: For the third time since 2011, CIPO’s approach to software patent eligibility has been struck down by the Federal Court.
June 6, 2022
If an AI produces an invention which satisfies the requirements of patentability, who is the inventor—the creator of the AI or the AI itself?
May 30, 2022
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.
May 12, 2022
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.
March 16, 2022
Patent drafters should take the time to consider the “why” behind drafting choices. There is no “right” or “wrong” way here, only the need to be mindful.
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 7, 2022
Patent applicants may wish to request examination for their Canadian patent applications soon to take advantage of the fees under the current Patent Rules.
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.