A couple of more COVID related announcements:
Andrew Little of Bennett Jones was appointed to the Federal Court today. Justice René LeBlanc of the Federal Court was elevated to the Federal Court of Appeal to replace Justice Gauthier, who elected to become a supernumerary judge.
The Federal Court has issued an updated Practice Notice and Order relating to the suspension and resumption of hearings due to COVID-19. The Court’s Suspension Period is extended to May 29th and regular hearings up to June 29th are adjourned sine die with exceptions.
The Canadian Intellectual Property Office has extended the Suspension Period due to COVID-19 through May 15 so that affected time limits ending on any of these designated days will now be extended until (link). CIPO also indicated that the Client Service Centre will resume its intellectual property document order service.
I’m quoted by the Canadian Press in an article today about “COVID” trademarks filed in the last several weeks.
The Federal Court of Appeal has issued a further notice regarding the re-activation of proceedings suspended in March (see earlier post). The notice indicates that proceedings that are ready to proceed will be triaged into those that can be decided in writing, those that can proceed by video/phone, and those that should be deferred for an in-person hearing.
In 2019, approximately 22,000 patents were granted by the Canadian Patent Office. Halliburton Energy Services was again the top recipient of patents with over twice the patents obtained as any other applicant. The other top applicants were General Electric Company, Nissan Motor, The Boeing Company and Siemens. Continue reading Top Patentees 2019
Over the weekend, the Federal Court issued an updated Practice Notice extending the suspension period until May 15th and addressing other issues including scheduling of hearings by video/phone and filing/service of materials.
The Federal Court of Appeal has issued a further notice extending its suspension period until May 15, 2020 and adjourning all hearings during this period, although parties may consent to have their matters heard remotely or decided based only on the written material. I understand that the Federal Court is likely to extend its suspension period as well.
The Ontario Superior Court has issued a Notice re-opening hearings in certain cases beyond just ‘urgent’ matters using remote hearings and relaxing requirements for service by email and filing.
WIPO has announced that the PCT International Bureau has suspended the transmittal on paper of PCT documents and notifications and will only use electronic means.
CIPO has extended the period of designated days until the end of April. This designation is under under subsection 78(1) of the Patent Act, subsection 66(1) of the Trademarks Act, and subsection 21(1) of the Industrial Design Act and extends the previous period, March 16 to March 31 – see link. The CIPO Patent Agent exams have also been adjourned to a date to be determined.