On July 16, 2013, the Federal Court released its decision granting the largest award of damages for patent infringement in Canadian history. In Merck & Co., Inc. v. Apotex Inc. (2013 FC 751) (“Merck”), Justice Snider found that Merck is entitled to over $119 million in damages, plus interest, for Apotex’s infringement of Merck’s patent […]
The verdict is in for the lengthy European trade-mark battle between British flower competitors Marks and Spencer (M&S) and Interflora regarding Google AdWords and trade-mark infringement. Victory goes to the trade-mark holder, Interflora.
CBC’s ill-fated “Ici” re-branding may be getting clawed back, but that’s not stopping Radio-Canada from seeking a trade-mark expungement against current broadcaster and “Ici” trade-mark holder, Sam Nozouri.
On November 24, 2011, the Federal Court of Appeal released its decision for Amazon.com, Inc. v. The Commissioner of Patents, 2011 FCA 328. This case related to patent application 2,246,933 filed by Amazon.com, Inc. entitled “Method and System For Placing A Purchase Order Via A Communications Network”. Popularly known as the “one-click shopping cart” case, […]
In the realm of law, neutrality is widely hailed as a fundamental principle of fairness, justice and equity; it is also, however, widely criticized as a myth that too often obscures the inevitable reality of perspective, interest or agenda. It should come as little surprise, then, that the principle of technological neutrality, recently employed by […]
On June 12th, 2013, the Chairperson of the CRTC - Jean-Pierre Blais - addressed a gathered group of context creators and advertisers at the Banff World Media Festival in Alberta. In his speech, Blais laid out the current role of the organization and how he sees it evolving in the future.
From June 18- 28, nation states were conducting negotiations for an international treaty to secure copyright exceptions for the visually impaired and people with print disabilities. These discussions, hosted by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), may secure the ability of nation states to allow conversion of published works to braille, large print and audio […]
The Federal Government recently announced it would not allow Mobilicity to transfer the wireless spectrum it owns to Telus, effectively blocking a deal for the incumbent to acquire the smaller new entrant. Many see this as a victory for consumers and a bolstering of the Government's initiative to spur competition in the wireless market, while others are concerned about the immediate future of […]
On May 23rd, 2013, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (“OPC”) released a report entitled “ The Case for Reforming the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act” (the “Report”). The Report proposes a number of changes to the Act by identifying four main “pressure points”.
Last month, the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) denied leave to appeal in the case Eli Lilly Canada Inc v Novopharm Ltd, passing on an opportunity to clarify the controversial “promise of the patent” utility requirement for Canadian pharmaceutical patents.