An order in council published in today’s Canada Gazette has put into force various amendments to among others, the Judges Act, and the Federal Courts Act to change the title of prothonotaries of the Federal Court and Tax Court of Canada from “prothonotary” to “associate judge”. Continue reading Associate Judge
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IPIC AGM
I will be attending the IPIC conference on September 28-30 and speaking on a panel about IP rights for an AI inventor/creator. Let me know if you are attending as it would be great to connect and reconnect in-person. Continue reading IPIC AGM
Patent Life Cycle
I tracked the 42,000 or so patent applications in Canada with a 2001 filing date which all expired by the end of 2021. Only about 17% were still enforceable at expiry but about 30% were in force at the 10 year mark. Overall, about 43% of the original applications (about 18,000) were granted and 118 were litigated in the Federal Court. Continue reading Patent Life Cycle
Closures
The Federal Court and CIPO will be closed on Monday, September 19 for Her Late Majesty’s State Funeral. Both the Federal Court and CIPO will also be closed on September 30 for National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. Continue reading Closures
Online Federal Court documents
The Federal Court has announced a pilot project for online access to court records. For new proceedings in some areas of law, including intellectual property, started on or after September 12, 2022, e-filed pleadings and written arguments, as well as directions/orders will be available online through the docket listings. There will be a 3-day delay before they are available online and materials subject to a confidentiality order will not be available online. Documents can also be obtained through the Court’s Registry.
Patent Decision
The Federal Court issued public reasons for judgment in Rovi Guides v. Videotron, 2022 FC 874. The Court found the four asserted patents invalid for being obvious and/or anticipated and accepted non-infringement defences advanced by the defendant, Videotron. If there had been liability, the Court concluded that the Plaintiff would not have been entitled to an accounting of profits and a design-around cost would have been a reasonable upper bound for any royalty. Videotron was represented by a team from DLA Piper including Bruce Stratton, Alan Macek, Michal Kasprowicz, Gabriella Levkov and Nicole Nazareth.
Privacy and AI
Bill C-27, “Digital Charter Implementation Act, 2022”, was introduced yesterday that would
- enact the “Consumer Privacy Protection Act” directed to the use of personal information, replacing portions of PIPEDA.
- establish a tribunal for hearing appeals of decision made by the Privacy Commissioner and impose penalties.
- enact the “Artificial Intelligence and Data Act” regulating the use of artificial intelligent systems, particularly those with a ‘high-impact’.
Federal Court
The Federal Court has issued an updated consolidated Practice Notice dated June 8, 2022. The practice notice consolidates and replaces earlier notices on such issues as informal requests for interlocutory relief, early requests for a hearing, books of authorities, addressing costs at hearings and the appearance of articling students at hearings. Continue reading Federal Court
Patent Rules
Amendments to the Patent Rules have been registered and will come into force on July 1st for amendments related to sequence listings, and October 3, 2022 for other amendments to “streamline examination’, including excess claim fees and requests for continued examination. The changes will include a $100 per claim fee for applications with more than 20 claims (see new section 80), and a fee for continued examination after three office actions equal to the original examination fee (see section 85.1). The amendments also add steps such as ‘notices of conditional allowance’. Continue reading Patent Rules
Competition Bureau
The Competition Bureau and Health Canada’s Health Product and Food Branch (HPFB) announced a collaboration focused on affordable medicines. The announcement focused on generic companies obtaining samples of the branded drug required to develop and support the regulatory authorization of their generic medicine.