Justice Marc Nadon of the Federal Court of Appeal was appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada yesterday. He was a judge of the Federal Court and Federal Court of Appeal since 1993.
Justice Snider of the Federal Court, who wrote many leading intellectual property decisions, is retiring effective October 12, 2013. Also, earlier this week the government appointed judges to the British Columbia, Manitoba, Nova Scotia, Ontario, PEI and Quebec courts.
The Federal Court of Appeal has dismissed the appeal and cross-appeal in the Bell Helicopter v. Eurocopter proceeding. The Court included discussion of inventive concept, utility, sound prediction, and punitive damages. Some quotes from the decision:
Continue reading Federal Court of Appeal upholds Eurocopter decision
Justice Barnes released the trial decision in ABB Technology AG et al. v. Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., Ltd., 2013 FC 947, a patent infringement action relating to medium voltage gas-insulated switchgear. The two patents at issue were held to be obvious after contentious claim construction. Continue reading ABB Technology v. Hyundai Heavy Industries
The Federal Court and Federal Court of Appeal have issued Notices to the Profession announcing a list of common authorities for patent and trade-mark litigation. Cases on the list are “deemed to be included in the book of authorities” but “if a party intends to refer to one of these authorities, the passage upon which they will rely should be included”. Continue reading Common List of Authorities
Justice Phelan held that Varco’s patent was valid and infringement in Varco Canada Limited et al. v. Pason Systems Corp. et al., 2013 FC 750. The patent at issue related to autodriller systems used in the petroleum industry, particularly for directional drilling. The proceeding was not bifurcated and the Court ordered a permanent injunction, delivery up and payment of $52 million as disgorgement of profits.
For those following the patent infringement actions started by Dovden Investments Ltd. over the last couple of years, an impeachment action was started yesterday by the Canadian Urban Transit Association (PDF). Dovden Investments has started approximately one third of all patent infringement actions in Canada during the past year.
The Federal Court has advertised for people interested in being selected as a Prothonotary. In other Prothonotary news, the Special Advisor to the Minister of Justice released his report last week containing recommendations for Prothonotary compensation.
The Federal Court has posted a discussion paper on proposed changes to the Federal Courts Rules regarding enforcement provisions, including issuing writs, garnishments and enforcement of domestic arbitral awards. The Rules Committee invites comments from counsel who use these rules.
Justice Yvon Pinard of the Federal Court is retiring effective July 1, 2013. Justice Pinard has been with the Federal Court since 1984 and has been a supernumerary judge since 2005.
Both the Federal Court and CIPO websites have scheduled outages this weekend. The Federal Court and Federal Court of Appeal announced that their website, email and e-filing will be unavailable from Friday night to Sunday morning. CIPO’s deposit accounts and some e-commerce services will be unavailable from Friday afternoon to Monday morning.