Patents

Case summaries and articles about  patents.

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 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 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 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.
January 10, 2017

PAB Finds Proposed Amendments Overcome Defects in Stabilized Alpha Helical Peptides Application

PAB 1393 - The Patent Appeal Board found that Canadian Patent Application No. 2,544,223, entitled “Stabilized Alpha Helical Peptides and Uses Thereof” lacked utility, lacked sufficient disclosure, was obvious, and included indefinite claims.
January 3, 2017

FC Rules PM(NOC) Prohibition Application Not An Abuse of Process

2015 FC 1016 - In this decision, the FC permitted the applicant to proceed with its prohibition application, despite a previous decision finding that the patent in question was invalid.
December 20, 2016

Bargain Theory Requires Adequate Disclosure in Patents

2015 FC 108 - Patent drafters are required to provide adequate disclosure of an invention in patent applications to reduce the likelihood that the granted patent will be litigated and invalidated years down the road. This Federal Court (“FC”) decision dismissed an application for a prohibition order on the grounds of non-infringement and found the patent to be obvious and lacking in utility.
November 28, 2016

Patent Appeal Board Rejects Waste-Disposal Film Dispensing Cassette for Obviousness and Lack of Novelty

PAB 1392 - Patent applicants should be wary of relying solely on evidence of commercial success to avoid rejection on the grounds of obviousness, as factors such as marketing may be found to be the actual reason for the success.
November 23, 2016

FC Invalidates Selection Patent as Obvious in View of Genus Patent

2015 FC 247 - The Federal Court reminds us that a selection patent will typically require something more than routine testing to justify the reclaiming of a particular compound within a previously known class of compounds.
November 14, 2016

Patent Appeal Board Rejects “Simple” Sports Training Aid for Obviousness, Improper Inclusion of New Matter, and Indefiniteness

PAB 1391 - Although the simplicity of a product may be attractive from a marketing perspective, it makes for an easy rejection of the patent application for obviousness.