Normally, doing something that breaks the law earns you a punishment, including a fine, community service, or even imprisonment. However, when Apotex Inc., a large generic pharmaceutical company, began producing and selling a drug that Servier Laboratories Limited, another large pharmaceutical company, had patented, Apotex was awarded $17.5 million.
A recent dispute before an Austrian court has demonstrated a quirky conflict between EU and domestic law with regards to the granting of statutory exploitation rights in cinematographic works.
The Canadian government and European Union (EU) are currently negotiating a Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA). A key issue has been ensuring that Canadian intellectual property rights for pharmaceutical products are brought in line with EU standards. It appears that the EU believes Canada’s legal regime regulating the approval of drugs does not provide […]
Advocate-General of the European Court of Justice (ECJ), Yves Bot’s opinion at the end of last year, on SAS Institute Inc. v. World Programming Ltd., was based on the High Court of England and Wales’ preliminary judgment for the same case. Issued on 29 November 2011, Adv.-Gen. Bot focused on specific provisions of Directives 91/250/EEC […]
Looking at the current state of trans-border licensing of music inEurope, the European example can teach mainly what to avoid. Even more so, many of the issues discussed in the EU might even be totally irrelevant for Canada. Unlike Canada, the EU currently consists of 27 member states, and as of today, there is […]
Courtney Doagoo is a doctoral student at the University of Ottawa, Faculty of Law. On November 22, 2011, the European Community Court of Justice rejected an Appeal made by LG Electronics for the trade mark registration of the word sign DIRECT DRIVE for Class 7 and 11 wares (namely electric washing machines for household purposes, […]
Alysia Lau is a JD candidate at Osgoode Hall Law School who took part in the inaugural offering of the Intellectual Property Law and Technology Intensive Program (IP Intensive) in the Fall of 2011. As part of the course requirements, students were asked to write a blog on a topic of their choice. This past August, […]
Andrew Baker is a LLB/BCL candidate at McGill University Faculty of Law. A decision of the Cour de Cassation de la France has led to some uncertainty as to when a photograph constitutes an intellectual work subject to protection.
Courtney Doagoo is a doctoral student at the University of Ottawa, Faculty of Law. On December 6 2011, the European Commission launched a public consultation to review the current regulatory regime surrounding “EU antitrust rules for the assessment of technology transfer agreements” for “patents, know-how and software licensing”. The aim of the public consultation is […]
Mark Bowman is a JD candidate at Osgoode Hall Law School. The Court of Justice of the European Communities has ruled that internet service providers (ISPs) cannot be forced to monitor subscriber traffic if doing so impedes on their freedom to conduct their business and if doing so would infringe on the fundamental rights of […]