The Federal Court of Appeal, in a new Practice Notice “Electronic Service of Documents for the duration of the Suspension Period”, makes electronic service by email permissible in all cases and requires email addresses be added to all documents filed with the Federal Court of Appeal, with limited exceptions, while the, now indefinite, Suspension Period is in effect.
Monthly Archives: May 2021
Federal Court
The Federal Court has published revised consolidated intellectual property guidance for case management and trial management. The Court has included a blackline version which indicates that changes include limiting “second round” discovery, use of claim charts, compendia and slide decks at trial and requests to admit.
11 Million
Earlier today, the USPTO issued patent 11,000,000. Since the USPTO granted US10,000,000 about three years ago, the Canadian Patent Office issued about 64,000 patents.
CBA IP Symposium
This year’s CBA annual IP event is going virtual on May 20, 27 and 31 with events on diversity and inclusion, substantive presentations, town halls by CIPO, the Federal Court and Copyright Board and a virtual Judges’ Dinner recognizing The Right Honourable Beverley McLachlin. There is still time to register. See you there!
Trademark Backlog
CIPO has published two practice notices directed to the backlog of trademarks awaiting examination:
- Requests for expedited examination – “effective immediately the Office will begin accepting requests for expedited examination of trademark applications” on the basis of court proceedings, combating counterfeit products, protect marks on online marketplaces, or to preserve claims of priority.
- Measures to improve timeliness in examination – the Office will prioritize applications with statements of goods or services selected from the pre-approved list, issue fewer examination reports prior to refusal, and will provide fewer examples of goods or services that would be acceptable in reports.