Validity

May 7, 2019
Abstract three-dimensional design resembling building blocks

Federal Circuit Reins in Impossible Standards for Antedating Prior Art

Fed. Cir., 2016-2222 - CAFC affirms that a patent may be successfully defended if the patent holder can prove that the invention was conceived prior to any similar prior art.
April 12, 2019
Photograph of a sunset over the trains in a trainyard.

Patentees May Bring Motion to Stay Proceedings Before the Commissioner to the FC

2019 FC 142 - FC confirms it may stay proceedings before federal board or commissions if elements of strict test are met.
April 4, 2019
White and blue pharmaceutical pills scattered on a surface

Actions Under Old PM(NOC) Regime Not Automatically Applicable to the New

2018 FC 1078 - Canada's Federal Court confirms that jurisprudence under previous PM(NOC) regime is not automatically applicable to the new.
December 4, 2018

The ONSC Dismisses Apotex’s Attempt to Revive the Promise Doctrine Under the Guise of Fraud

2018 ONSC 5199 – ONSC rejects Apotex’s attempt to recast Promise Doctrine under s. 53 fraud allegations.
December 19, 2017

Federal Court Upholds Pfizer’s Polymorph Patent for the Depression Drug PRISTIQ as Inventive and Useful

2017 FC 777 - The FC rejected Teva’s allegations that Pfizer's Canadian patent was obvious and lacked utility. The FC found that the POSITA would not have been able to predict the novel crystalline form taught by the patent, and that the subject-matter of the invention claimed in the patent was useful.
October 10, 2017
insufficient disclosure

Federal Court of Appeal Upholds Finding of Insufficient Disclosure

2017 FCA 161 - The FCA dismissed Idenix's appeal to a FC decision in which Idenix's Canadian patent was found invalid for insufficient disclosure and its counterclaim against Gilead was dismissed.
October 3, 2017
Federal Court Section 7

Federal Court dismisses Section 7(a) Trade-marks Act claim over lack of causal link

2016 FC 986 - The FC dismissed Supertek's claim that Mishan engaged in conduct contrary to Section 7(a) of the Trade-marks Act, in relation to a Canadian patent.
August 8, 2017

IPTV case shows that Interpretation of IT Patents may be 0’s or 1’s

2017 FC 6 - MediaTube brought allegations of infringement against Bell over one of its IT patents, asserting that Bell had infringed the patent with Bell’s IPTV services. The FC deemed the patent to be valid, but not infringed. Costs were decided in Bell’s favour and elevated to reflect the punitive damages claimed by MediaTube and the weak argument they had put forth.
June 27, 2017

ICSID Tribunal dismisses Eli Lilly’s NAFTA claim against Canada

Case No. UNCT/14/2 - An ICSID Tribunal dismissed Eli Lilly’s claim against Canada, which was brought in relation to two Canadian patents owned by Eli Lilly that had been invalidated for failing to provide the utility they promised.
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 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.
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.
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.
January 5, 2017

Industrial Design Registration for Helmet Face Shield Deemed Valid But Not Infringed

2016 FC 435 - In this industrial design case, the FC commented that the more crowded the field, the smaller the degree of difference required to evade the protection afforded by existing registrations.
October 21, 2016

FCA Clarifies Test for Obviousness-Type Double-Patenting

2016 FCA 119 - The FCA dismissed the appeal, which alleged that Canadian Patent No. 2,226,784 was invalid on the basis of obviousness-type double-patenting and for lack of utility due to no sound prediction. As a result, the ‘784 patent was upheld.
October 5, 2016

“More or Less Self-evident” Remains the Standard in the Obvious-to-Try Test

2015 FCA 286 - An attack on the Federal Court’s slight rewording of the obvious-to-try test has proven unsuccessful. The FC referring to a 'fair expectation of success'" was not a reviewable error.
October 5, 2016

Canadian Version of Alice Financial Services Patent Rejected for Lack of Statutory Subject Matter

PAB 1408 - The Canadian version of one of the computer-implemented financial services patent applications from the famous U.S. case on software patent eligibility, Alice Corp v CLS Bank International, 573 U.S. __, 134 S. Ct. 2347 (2014), was rejected for lack of patentable subject matter.
September 30, 2016

Software and Data Analytics Patents still a Challenge in Canada

PAB 1407 - The PAB rejected the computer-implemented data analytics patent application of Canadian Patent Application No. 2,798,566, entitled “Identified Customer Reporting”, for lack of statutory subject matter, since no physical feature – no computing device – was found to be essential to the claims.
September 6, 2016

Patent Application for Blackjack Variation Rejected as Unpatentable Subject Matter

In Re Smith, (Fed. Cir. 2015-1664) - A patent application for a variation on the blackjack game was rejected as unpatentable after the CAFC applied the two-step test for patentable subject matter from Mayo and Alice.
August 22, 2016

FC Bifurcates Infringement & Validity Issues from Section 8 PM(NOC) Proceeding in Hopes of Settlement

2016 FC 720 - The FC bifurcated the issues of infringement and validity from any other section 8 issue in hopes that bifurcation would likely lead to a settlement of all the issues between the parties.