Supreme Court of Canada

November 29, 2022
Photograph of a hand holding a calculator and performing financial calculations.

Canada’s Highest Court Upholds $644M Award for Patent Infringement

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.
November 3, 2021
A woman sits on a pink suitcase in an airport.

Supreme Court Refuses to Hear Appeal in Luggage Trademark Dispute

SCC #39576: Earlier this year, Travelway filed for leave to appeal with the Supreme Court of Canada over a trademark dispute with Wenger, the makers of Swiss Gear.
January 23, 2020
Photo of a judge's golden gavel in court.

How the Supreme Court’s New Standard of Review Will Impact IP

2019 SCC 65, 2019 SCC 66 - The new standard of review will be applied to decisions by the Patent Office, Trademark Office, PAB, and TTAB.
July 11, 2019
SCOTUS, the supreme court of the United States

US Supreme Court Asked to Resolve “Fundamental State of Disorder” in the Patent System

A cybersecurity start-up is asking the US Supreme Court to take a bold stance on the judicial treatment of patents and fix the US patent system.
September 26, 2017

Canada’s Supreme Court Does Not “Like” Facebook’s Forum Selection Clause

2017 SCC 33 - The SCC allowed Douez’s appeal and found strong reasons not to enforce the forum selection clause present in Facebook Inc.’s terms of use on its social media website, Facebook.com.
July 11, 2017

Supreme Court of Canada upholds worldwide interlocutory injunction against Google

2017 SCC 34 - Canada's Supreme Court dismissed Google Inc.’s appeal and upheld the worldwide interlocutory injunction against it.
June 30, 2017

Canada’s Supreme Court Abolishes Controversial “Promise Doctrine”

2017 SCC 36 - The Supreme Court of Canada struck down the “promise doctrine” of Canadian patent law in favour of merely requiring a single use related to the nature of the subject-matter of the invention having a scintilla of utility.
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.
October 6, 2015

FCA Nudges SCC to Consider that Claim Construction should be Reviewed on Reasonableness Standard

Abb Technology AG, ABB Inc v Hyundai Heavy Industries Co, Ltd, 2015 FCA 181 - The FCA suggested that although claim construction is reviewed on a correctness standard, claim construction is so heavily reliant on expert witnesses that perhaps it should be reviewed on a palpable and overriding error standard.
November 30, 2014

SCC Recognizes an Organizing Principle of Good Faith in Contract Law and a New Duty of Honest Contractual Performance

Bhasin v Hrynew, 2014 SCC 71 - The Supreme Court of Canada recognized a general organizing principle of good faith that underlies many facets of contract law, and created a new common law duty requiring contracting parties to honestly perform contractual obligations as a manifestation of this organizing principle.
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 […]