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, […]
On June 13, 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court rendered a decision which ruled against the patenting of isolated DNA sequences in their natural form in the now infamous case involving Myriad Genetics, Inc. and the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes. The decision represents a major milestone in the legal treatment of biotechnological inventions, and presents a number of relevant […]
Watch out, patent trolls - the Attorney General of Vermont is coming to get you. Vermont recently became the first US state to enact an anti-"patent trolling" law.
Earlier this month, the United States Trade Representative (USTR) released its annual “Special 301 Report,” which evaluates the intellectual property rights (IPR) protection and enforcement of its trading partners. Over the last few years, Canada has been listed on the “Priority Watch List”, which is reserved for countries that have the most deficient IP protection […]
It was thought until quite recently that any applicant for a Canadian patent had to disclose in his specification the best mode then known of working his invention (Minerals Separation North American Corp. v. Noranda Mines Ltd., [1947] Ex. C.R. 306, rev’d (1952) 69 R.P.C. 81 (P.C.)). Then came Sanofi-Aventis Canada Inc. v. Apotex Inc., […]
It was 1999 when Research In Motion (RIM) first imprinted itself in the world of electronic communication. When the company reached its peak it was difficult to imagine that an innovative company such as RIM would sit idly by watching the market change. RIM’s lack of innovation compared to its competitors is what caused its […]
Giuseppina D’Agostino is the Founder and Director of IP Osgoode, the Founder and Director of the IP Intensive Program, and an Associate Professor at Osgoode Hall Law School. 2012 was an action-packed year in the world of intellectual property law. There were flurries of reports, decisions, and new legislation that confronted many core principles of […]
On November 30, 2012 the US Supreme Court agreed to hear the appeal in the case of Association for Molecular Pathology v Myriad Genetics Inc. In particular, the Court limited its grant of the appeal to the first question posed by the petitioners: “Are human genes patentable?”
On the afternoon of November 29th 2012 IP Osgoode was pleased to host Justice Roger T. Hughes of the Federal Court of Canada as he shared his experiences with us in a lecture entitled "Advocacy Skills and IP: Observations from the Bench".
Lately, it seems as if every IP law and tech blog one reads has something new to report on one of the countless lawsuits Apple is engaged in around the world. This week was no exception – the biggest splash that Apple made in the news circuit this time around was that Apple had come […]