The decision of Justice Near in BBM Canada v. Research In Motion Limited was released yesterday. The proceeding against RIM for trademark infringement and depreciation of BBM Canada’s registered marks was brought by way of application rather than by way of action. The Court dismissed the proceeding and awarded costs in favour of RIM. Continue reading Trademark Infringement Application
Monthly Archives: May 2012
Biosimilar litigation comes to Canada
A biosimilar PM(NOC) litigation proceeding was started recently involving the drug Filgrastim. The proceeding was started by Amgen Canada against Teva in T-989-12.
Comments on CIPO Consultation
CIPO has posted the comments it received relating to its proposed guidance on patentable subject matter. Most of the posted comments are critical of the proposals. Continue reading Comments on CIPO Consultation
Ramipril Section 8
Decisions were released publicly yesterday in two PM(NOC) Section 8 proceedings. After a joint hearing with Justice Hughes, Justice Snider upheld the validity of Section 8 of the Regulations (in 2012 FC 551). She awarded the recovery of losses to Teva (in 2012 FC 552) and Apotex (in 2012 FC 553) on the assumption that an authorized generic and another generic would have enter the market.
Expert Hot Tubbing
In a decision released May 11, Justice Hughes ordered the concurrent testifying, or “hot tubbing” of expert witnesses. The decision is Apotex v. Astrazeneca Canada, 2012 FC 559 (omeprazole), a PM(NOC) section 8 liability proceeding.
Continue reading Expert Hot Tubbing
CIPO Annual Report
The Canadian Intellectual Property Office has released its 2010-2011 Annual Report which includes reports on progress on client service, backlog and statistics.
Oracle v. Google
A mixed verdict was issued today by the jury in the Oracle v. Google proceeding on the Android system and the Java language. The jury determined that Google has infringed the overall structure, sequence and organization of copyrighted works but the jury did not rule on Google’s “fair use” defence
ECJ on software
The European Court of Justice in SAS Institute Inc. v. World Programming Ltd, C‑406/10 held that functional aspects of software are not an “expression” protected by copyright.
Patents in 2011
The number of patent applications published or that entered national phase in Canada in 2011 was down slightly. Smart & Biggar, Gowlings and Norton Rose remained the top three patent firms by volume of applications for 2011. My list of patents firms by volume is now available for 2011.