Judicial appointments have been made in the Federal Court, Ontario, Quebec, Newfoundland and Labrador, and British Columbia. In the Federal Court, Prothonotary Lafrenière was appointed as a judge.
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Updates
Here are several news items that may be of interest:
- An Order in Council has indefinitely suspended implementation of the private right of action under CASL, Canada’s anti-spam legislation. The private right of action was scheduled to come into force on July 1, 2017.
- CIPO has advised that it will beginning a series of consultations over the summer on proposed regulatory amendments for Industrial Design Regulations, Trade-marks Regulations, Patent Rules relating to implementation of the Hague Agreement, Madrid Protocol, Singapore Treaty, the Nice Agreement and the Patent Law Treaty.
- Global Affairs Canada has announced consultation on the renegotiation and modernization of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The government invites submissions on a variety of topics including intellectual property.
Venue
The United States Supreme Court issued its decision in TC Heartland LLC v. Kraft Foods Group Brands LLC stating that corporate ‘residence’ refers only to the state of incorporation. The patent venue statute, 28 U. S. C. §1400(b), provides that “[a]ny civil action for patent infringement may be brought in the judicial district where the defendant resides, or where the defendant has committed acts of infringement and has a regular and established place of business.” This decision will likely have a significant effect on the number of cases filed in Texas, which saw 37% of all patent cases in 2016.
Protective Orders
My recent article on the use of protective and confidentiality orders in the Federal Court is available on Slaw. This topic was one of the items discussed last week at the Federal Court town hall and was the subject of an order released last week which stated, “The open court principle is of crucial importance in a democratic society, … Confidentiality orders inherently compromise these fundamental principles and important rights.” Continue reading Protective Orders
CETA
Bill C-30, the CETA implementation legislation received royal assent today. The Bill includes amendments to the Patent Act, regarding supplementary protection for pharmaceutical products and altering patent linkage system, and to the Trade-mark Act regarding geographic indicators with grounds of opposition and certain exceptions for prior use, acquired rights and generic terms. Amendments are also proposed to a number of other acts. Implementation regulations are expected any day.
CBA IP Day
After a kickoff at the Diversity Breakfast, CBA IP Day continued with the Federal Court’s Town Hall focused on the imminent overhaul to pharmaceutical litigation in Canada, including two years to trial, focused discovery, changes to costs regime and efficient trial management. Bill C-30, the CETA implementation legislation cleared the senate this afternoon. Continue reading CBA IP Day
Trial Management
The Federal Court issued a practice notice on trial management conferences and procedures. The guidelines identify issues to be determined at pre-trial conferences and trial management conferences as well as impose new deadlines for pre-trial steps.
Reasonable Royalties and Non-Infringing Alternatives
In a decision released earlier this year, Frac Shack Inc. v. AFD Petroleum Ltd., 2017 FC 104, the defendant was found to infringe several of the claims in a patent relating to a fuel delivery system used for hot refuelling equipment used for hydraulic fracturing. The court ordered a 27% royalty rate for sales made prior to the grant of the patent at issue and did not consider a manual process as being a non-infringing alternative. My article on this decision was published by Slaw. Continue reading Reasonable Royalties and Non-Infringing Alternatives
NAFTA
As mentioned on Friday, the NAFTA arbitration tribunal in the Eli Lilly ‘promise doctrine’ proceeding has issued a ruling. The public decision is now available confirming that the tribunal decided in favour of Canada on the merits. The decision addresses issues of jurisdiction, liability for judicial measures and Canada’s utility requirements for patents. Continue reading NAFTA
NAFTA
The NAFTA arbitration tribunal in the Eli Lilly ‘promise doctrine’ proceeding has issued a ruling. Reports are that the tribunal has decided in favour of Canada on the merits. Continue reading NAFTA