In a decision released today, the EU Court of Justice ruled in Brustle v. Greenpeace C-34/10 that processes requiring the use of human embryos, broadly defined, as base material even if the description does not refer to the use of human embryos are unpatentable in Europe. Continue reading EU Court of Justice limits patentability of embryonic research
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Supreme Court of Canada news
Justices Moldaver and Karakatsanis, both currently of the Ontario Court of Appeal have been nominated for the Supreme Court. It was also announced today that the Supreme Court will release its decision in Crookes v. Newton relating to defamation liability by hyperlinking on Wednesday. Continue reading Supreme Court of Canada news
Two judges nominated to Supreme Court of Canada
The Prime Minister has nominated Justices Moldaver and Karakatsanis, both currently of the Ontario Court of Appeal for appointment to the Supreme Court of Canada, replacing Justices Binnie and Charon who both retired earlier this year. Continue reading Two judges nominated to Supreme Court of Canada
Supreme Court of Canada starts fall session
Copyright will be on the agenda when the Supreme Court of Canada starts its fall session this week. Five appeals from the Copyright Board are scheduled to be heard in early December.
Continue reading Supreme Court of Canada starts fall session
FCA on authority of deputy judges
In a ruling released yesterday in Felipa v. Canada, the Federal Court of Appeal held that deputy judges of the Federal Court over the age of 75 have no authority under the Federal Courts Act.
Government introduces Copyright amendments
New copyright legislation was introduced today in the House of Commons, as the Copyright Modernization Act, Bill C-11. The Bill is expected to be substantially similar to the previous version.
Site mentioned on Slaw.ca
The blog, Slaw.ca mentioned the IPPractice.ca website today with regard to the Docket Browser feature. As identified by Ted Tjaden, the IPPractice.ca docket browser includes the docket entries, as well as related court decisions, appeals and the patented medicine where it can be identified. Ted Tjaden maintains a list of Canadian courts that maintain online accessible court dockets that would be helpful to anyone monitoring and investigating proceedings in other jurisdictions. Thanks for the mention!
SCC denies leave in “acrimonious” trademark discovery
This morning, the Supreme Court of Canada denied leave in Osmose-Penotox Inc. v. Société Laurentide Inc. (SCC #34175), where an appeal was sought from the Federal Court of Appeal’s decision in 2011 FCA 31. The issues in the appeal appear to have been related to the scope of discovery in a bifurcated proceeding. The Federal Court of Appeal had written:
[10] With respect, I think the appellant fails to understand that the respondent’s missing letter to Rona, even if its content was assumed to be most favorable from the perspective of the appellant, is not relevant at the first stage of the proceedings. The determination of the validity of the registration of the appellant’s trade-mark entails a legal determination over which the beliefs of the respondent, whatever the self-serving or even incriminating terms in which they have been expressed in the response letter, carry no influence. The same holds true for the determination of the respondent’s liability should the trade-mark be found to be valid and to have been infringed.
…
[14] Before concluding, I think it is fair to say that the debate between the parties, which so far has been going on for at least eight years, has been acrimonious. … The parties should understand that the time has now come to move this case to trial without further interruption.
More information about these and other intellectual property proceedings at the Supreme Court are available on my Supreme Court litigation page.
Ontario Superior Court supports neutral citations and electronic decision databases
In a practice direction, the Ontario Superior Court announced that as of October 1st, parties should include neutral citations (2011 ONSC 123) on Superior Court decisions, in addition to other citations. They also announced that they will accept copies of decisions from electronic databases all though they caution that decisions are sometimes corrected after issuance and the date the decision was obtained electronically should be noted in the citation. The practice notices identifies QuickLaw and CanLII as “Approved electronic databases” dedicated to the publication of judicial decisions.
The Federal Court and Federal Court of Appeal had previously announced their support for the use of neutral citations for all decisions.
Voltage “Hurt Locker” affidavit
As mentioned last week, the Federal Court issued an order allowing Voltage Pictures to obtain information from ISPs about subscribers who had allegedly downloaded the “Hurt Locker” movie (Voltage Pictures LLC c. Mr. or Ms. DOE, 2011 CF 1024 – Translation). A copy of the supporting affidavit (PDF) providing the plaintiff’s facts linking the downloading of the movie to IP addresses is now available online (thanks @AnthonyHemond).
In BMG Canada v. Doe, 2005 FCA 193, one of the leading cases in this area of the law, the recording companies brought a motion for documents in the possession of the ISPs under Federal Courts Rules, Rule 233. The court ultimately denied the motion in that case and concluded that the supporting evidence connecting the pseudonyms of the P2P users with IP addresses was inadequate. At the time, the Federal Court of Appeal wrote:
[21] Much of the crucial evidence submitted by the appellants was hearsay and no grounds are provided for accepting that hearsay evidence. In particular, the evidence purporting to connect the pseudonyms with the IP addresses was hearsay thus creating the risk that innocent persons might have their privacy invaded and also be named as defendants where it is not warranted. Without this evidence there is no basis upon which the motion can be granted and for this reason alone the appeal should be dismissed.
From the Federal Court’s ruling in the Voltage proceeding, this does not appear to have been an issue.