There were a couple of decisions from the last several days that may be of interest:
AstraZeneca AB & Anor v KRKA dd Novo Mesto & Anor[2015] EWCA Civ 484 – The Court of Appeal in the UK upheld the award of £27 million damages in favour of a generic for an interim injunction that was ultimately dissolved for esomeprazole.
Garcia v. Google – The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in an en banc decision (PDF), reversed its earlier panel decision and held that an actor in a controversial film was not entitled to a preliminary decision removing the film from YouTube on the basis that the law and facts did not clearly favour her claim to copyright and her showing of irreparable harm.
Commil USA, LLC v. Cisco Systems, Inc. – The United States Supreme Court held that a defendant’s belief regarding patent invalidity is not a defence to an induced infringement claim.
Bill C-59, entitled An Act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on April 21, 2015 and other measures, was introduced today to implement portions of the budget. The proposed changes include amendments to:
Copyright Act – term of sound recording and performance rights;
Patent Act – privilege for patent agents, force majeure, correcting errors and other changes;
Trade-marks Act – privilege for trade-mark agents, force majeure, correcting errors;
Industrial Designs Act – force majeure, correcting errors.
The Honourable Richard Southcott has been appointed to the Federal Court. Previously, he was Vice President and General Counsel at Irving Shipbuilding in Halifax. Judicial appointments were also made today in Manitoba, Ontario, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.
Proposed amendments to the PM(NOC) Regulations have been published in the Canada Gazette Part I, relating to the listing of patents claiming single medicinal ingredients found in combination drugs. The government indicated its plans to make these amendments in the fall of 2014, following Court decisions in Gilead and Viiv.
On Monday, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in CBC v. SODRAC, an appeal from the Federal Court of Appeal’s decision on what copyright royalties are payable on ephemeral copies under the principles of technology neutrality.
Changes to the Plant Breeders’ Rights Act received royal assent today. The legislation, Bill C-18, An Act to amend certain Acts relating to agriculture and agri-food, includes changes addressing the duration, scope and exceptions to the rights under the Act.
The Federal Courts Rules have been amended to remove obstacles to greater use of technology by the court. Among other things, the changes permit the registry to maintain an official electronic record, clarifying electronic service, amend the definition of ‘document’ and permit electronic filing. Also, the Federal Court has published a Notice to the Profession regarding obtaining copies from the digital audio recording system used at hearings.
The government has posted its counter memorial regarding Eli Lilly’s NAFTA arbitration of Canada’s ‘promise utility doctrine’. The next phase, according to the proceeding’s schedule, is the production of documents.
About 50,400 trademark applications were filed in Canada in 2014. Of these, about 20% were filed in-house or without an agent (about the same as in the last couple of years). Gowlings, Bereskin & Parr and Smart & Biggar were the firms that filed the most trademark applications. Check out my list of the 50 firms/agents that filed the most applications in 2014.
BlackBerry tops the list once again for receiving the most Canadian patents in the past year. The others in the top five for 2014 were Qualcomm, P&G, General Electric and Schlumberger. Approximately 23,000 Canadian patents were granted last year to approximately 9500 applicants.