Earlier today, the Supreme Court of Canada released its decision in Cinar Corporation v. Robinson, 2013 SCC 73. The Court upheld the findings of liability and modified the award of damages, including punitive damages. Some of the issues considered by the Court included determining “substantial part”, the admissibility of expert evidence, disgorgement of profits under the Copyright Act and punitive damages.
Category Archives: Daily Alert
Canada Gazette Publication
A series of IP related regulations were published in today’s Canada Gazette (Part II): a) changes to the Patent Rules and Trade-mark Regulations relating to the agent examinations; b) changes to the Patent Rules relating to final actions and c) regulations associated with Canada’s anti-spam legislation. Check the specific regulations for the coming into force dates of each amendment.
Examinations
Changes have been made to the Patent Rules and Trade-marks Regulations governing the Patent Agent and Trade-mark Agent exams. The changes include more flexibility for scheduling the exams and requiring all new Trade-Mark Agents to have written the Trade-Mark Agent exam.
Justice Evans
Justice Evans is retiring from the Federal Court of Appeal at the end of the year. He has been a member of the Federal Court of Appeal since 1999 and supernumerary since 2012. He joined the Federal Court in 1998.
Patentable Subject Matter (again)
The United States Supreme Court has decided to hear the appeal in Alice Corporation Pty. Ltd. v. CLS Bank International, et al. on the issue of whether computer-implemented inventions are patentable subject matter. This is an appeal from an en banc decision of the CAFC in which the panel of ten judges had written seven separate decisions with a majority holding the claims to be non-patentable.
Anti-Spam Regulations
The regulations from Industry Canada for Canada’s anti-spam legislation were released yesterday after length consultations. Most of the Act will come into force in July 2014.
Final Action Regulations
Amendment to the Patent Rules were registered last week directed primarily to final action practice. These amendments follow from the consultations that took place 2012 and relate to amendments and practice after a final action and the Patent Appeal Board.
Patent Agent Exam
November 29th is the deadline for applying to write the Patent Agent Exam in April 2014. This may be the last year for the exam under the current rules as amendments to the Patent Rules affecting the Patent Agent Exam (and the Trade-marks Agent Exam) are likely to be released in the new year.
Private Labels
The Supreme Court of Canada issued its decision in Katz Group Canada Inc. v. Ontario (Health and Long‑Term Care), 2013 SCC 64 today, which upheld Ontario’s regulations of ‘private label’ generic drugs and dismissed the appeal by Shoppers and Katz.
Google Books
Judge Chin of the District Court of New York held today that the Google Books scanning project is ‘fair use’, granting Google’s motion for summary judgment. Google has scanned more than 20 million books and includes the results in its search engine. The Authors Guild and individual authors sued for copyright infringement and sought class action status. The Authors Guild has indicated it will appeal the decision.