BlackBerry tops the list once again for receiving the most Canadian patents in the past year, obtaining almost twice as many patents as the second place applicant. The others in the top five for 2015 were Qualcomm, Halliburton Energy Services, General Electric and Schlumberger. Approximately 21,000 Canadian patents were granted last year to approximately 9000 applicants. Continue reading Top Patentees
Tag Archives: Read More
SCC and Technological Neutrality
The Supreme Court of Canada released an important ruling today on the role of technological neutrality in copyright law. In a 7-2 split decision in Canadian Broadcasting Corporation/Société Radio-Canada v. SODRAC 2003 Inc., et al., Justice Rothstein writing for the majority affirmed the principle of technological neutrality and held that royalties must be paid for ephemeral copies of works made by broadcasters for the purpose of facilitating broadcasting. However the majority also remanded a determination of the value of the licenses for those copyrights to the Copyright Board in order to take into account technological neutrality. A strong dissent by Justice Abella (agreed to in part by Justice Karakatsanis) disagreed that copyright applied to ephemeral copies, at all.
Continue reading SCC and Technological Neutrality
TPP
Last week, the official text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership was posted, including the chapter on Intellectual Property and various related side instruments. The new Liberal government has said it will review the agreement and have consultations.
Australian Myriad
Australia’s highest court has issued its decision in D’Arcy v Myriad Genetics Inc, allowing the appeal and holding that claims directed to the BRCA1 gene be revoked on the basis that the substance of the claim “is information embodied in arrangements of nucleotides” and not a “manner of manufacture.” Continue reading Australian Myriad
TPP
Twelve countries, including Canada, have agreed to the Trans-Pacific Partnership. No text has been released yet but reports are that protection of biologics was one of the final sticking points. The government has posted a high level summary on the IP issues in the agreement. Continue reading TPP
Costs
The Federal Court has issued a discussion paper on costs in the Federal Court. A subcommittee of the Federal Courts Rules committee is seeking comments by November 23, 2015 on costs, including on addressing improper, vexatious and unnecessary litigation, access to justice and methods of calculating costs.
Happy Birthday
Chief Judge George King of the Central District of California issued a decision yesterday (PDF) in favour of plaintiffs who argued that Warner/Chappel Music had no right to collect royalties for “Happy Birthday To You” in the United States. After tracing the history of the song back to the 1890s, he concluded that Warner/Chappell Music’s predecessor never acquired the rights to the Happy Birthday lyrics from the purported authors. Continue reading Happy Birthday
US Injunction
Today, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued its latest decision in the Apple v. Samsung patent dispute. In a split decision considering, among other things, the USSC’s eBay decision and the requirement of a ‘causal nexus’ between the alleged irreparable harm and the alleged infringement, the court vacated the lower court’s decision not to award a permanent injunction and remanded . Continue reading US Injunction
Prothonotaries
The Federal Court has posted a notice that it is seeking applicants to fill an existing vacancy in Ottawa and create a pool of candidates for future positions in Ottawa, Montréal, Toronto and Vancouver. Continue reading Prothonotaries
Plant Breeders’ Rights
Canada has notified WIPO that Canada has ratified the International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants. The treaty will enter into force on July 19, 2015 which follows the amendments earlier this year to the Plant Breeders’ Rights Act.