Bill C-65, entitled “An Act to amend the Copyright Act (access to copyrighted works or other subject-matter for persons with perceptual disabilities)” has been introduced to implement the Marrakesh Treaty. Continue reading Marrakesh Treaty
All posts by Alan Macek
Copyright Board
Justice Robert A. Blair has been appointed as Chair of the Copyright Board. Justice Blair has been a judge of the Ontario Court of Appeal since 2003 after 12 years as a trial judge on the Superior Court. Continue reading Copyright Board
Judicial Appointments
The Honourable Patrick Gleeson, formerly a Canadian Forces legal advisor has been appointed to the Federal Court. Appointments were also made today to the courts in BC, Newfoundland and Labrador, Northwest Territories, Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan and to the Competition Tribunal and the Tax Court.
Foreign Decisions
There were a couple of decisions from the last several days that may be of interest:
- AstraZeneca AB & Anor v KRKA dd Novo Mesto & Anor [2015] EWCA Civ 484 – The Court of Appeal in the UK upheld the award of £27 million damages in favour of a generic for an interim injunction that was ultimately dissolved for esomeprazole.
- Garcia v. Google – The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in an en banc decision (PDF), reversed its earlier panel decision and held that an actor in a controversial film was not entitled to a preliminary decision removing the film from YouTube on the basis that the law and facts did not clearly favour her claim to copyright and her showing of irreparable harm.
- Commil USA, LLC v. Cisco Systems, Inc. – The United States Supreme Court held that a defendant’s belief regarding patent invalidity is not a defence to an induced infringement claim.
Budget Bill
Bill C-59, entitled An Act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on April 21, 2015 and other measures, was introduced today to implement portions of the budget. The proposed changes include amendments to:
- Copyright Act – term of sound recording and performance rights;
- Patent Act – privilege for patent agents, force majeure, correcting errors and other changes;
- Trade-marks Act – privilege for trade-mark agents, force majeure, correcting errors;
- Industrial Designs Act – force majeure, correcting errors.
Judicial Appointments
The Honourable Richard Southcott has been appointed to the Federal Court. Previously, he was Vice President and General Counsel at Irving Shipbuilding in Halifax. Judicial appointments were also made today in Manitoba, Ontario, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.
PM(NOC) Regulations
Proposed amendments to the PM(NOC) Regulations have been published in the Canada Gazette Part I, relating to the listing of patents claiming single medicinal ingredients found in combination drugs. The government indicated its plans to make these amendments in the fall of 2014, following Court decisions in Gilead and Viiv.
Marrakesh
The government has tabled the Marrakesh Treaty which allows copyrighted material to be adapted into accessible formats for the visually impaired. The implementation of this treaty was announced as part of the budget last week.
Budget
Today, as part of its budget announcement the government indicated its plans to amend the Patent Act, Trade-marks Act and Industrial Design Act to provide statutory privilege for confidential communications with agents and permit CIPO to extend deadlines in cases of force majeure. The government also plans to amend the Copyright Act to implement and accede to the Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who are Blind, Visually Impaired or Otherwise Print Disabled and to extend the term of protection of sound recordings and performances for an additional 20 years.
Supreme Court
Yesterday, the Supreme Court of Canada issued an oral judgment at the hearing of Sanofi’s appeal in the ramipril Section 8 proceeding, dismissing the appeal with costs.