Yesterday, regulations were published in the Canada Gazette Part II, implementing plain packaging for tobacco products. The coming into force date is November 9, 2019. Continue reading Plain Packaging
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Copyright Board
Proposed regulations on “Establishing Time Limits in Relation to Matters Before the Copyright Board” have been published in the Canada Gazette Part 1. The purpose of the regulations is in part to “prescribe the amount of time the Board may take to render decisions”. Continue reading Copyright Board
Crown Copyright
A private member’s bill, C-440 was introduced yesterday that would abolish Crown Copyright. Continue reading Crown Copyright
Judicial Appointments
Justice Locke of the Federal Court was elevated to the Federal Court of Appeal. Angela Furlanetto of DLA Piper was appointed a Prothonotary of the Federal Court. Appointments were also made today to the courts in British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, Québec and New Brunswick. Continue reading Judicial Appointments
2018 Wrap Up
We are now a couple of weeks into 2019 but I thought a brief summary of 2018 may be of interest:
- 175 IP decisions reported (201 in 2017)
- 363 new IP Federal Court proceedings started (376 in 2017)
- 83 patent infringement cases (50 in 2017)
- 23,499 patents granted (24,099 in 2017)
- 25,222 trademarks registered (29,766 in 2017)
- 9 IP related SCC proceedings started (11 in 2017)
- 6 IP trials in Federal Court (10 in 2017)
- around 120 trial days (~150 in 2017)
- Over 400,000 emails sent to IPPractice subscribers
Budget Bill
Bill C-86, the budget bill that implements changes to the Patent Act, the Trade-marks Act and the Copyright Act, enacts the College of Patent Agents and Trade-mark Agents Act and makes changes for IP licenses in insolvency received royal assent yesterday. Bill C-86 received minor amendments as it went through parliament.
USMCA
My latest column for Slaw has been published, on the IP changes included in the US Mexico Canada trade agreement. The agreement is supposed to be signed Friday but reports are that the countries are still in discussions. Continue reading USMCA
Trademarks
Amendments to the Trademarks Act and Regulations will come into force on June 17, 2019 implementing the Madrid, Nice and Singapore treaties.
Budget Changes
Introduced yesterday, budget bill C-86 includes changes to the Patent Act, Trade-marks Act, Copyright Act, enacts the College of Patent Agents and Trade-mark Agents Act and makes changes for IP licenses in insolvency. Some highlights include a college to regulate agents, reform of the Copyright Board, allows patent file histories to be admissible to rebut claim constructions, add bad faith as a ground of opposition for trademarks, and adds requirements for notices under the notice-and-notice copyright regime.
Appointments
Justice Marianne Rivoalen was appointed to the Federal Court of Appeal today. She replaces Justice J.M. Woods, who elected to become a supernumerary judge effective April 1, 2018. Prior to today’s appointment she was Associate Chief Justice of Her Majesty’s Court of Queen’s Bench for Manitoba (Family Division). Appointments were also made today to in the province of Saskatchewan. Continue reading Appointments