Health Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) are currently seeking feedback on the development of voluntary guidance for providing information for foods that are sold to consumers through e-commerce. While the...more
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) has extended many (but not all) patent, trademark, and industrial design deadlines that ordinarily fall in a period beginning on March 16,...more
On April 30, 2020, Health Canada announced the extension of temporary relief measures, initially announced on March 24, 2020, for Canadian licence holders in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as some new...more
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, protective medical equipment including masks and gowns, and medical devices for use in testing and treating COVID-19 patients are in high demand. Manufacturers of these medical devices...more
Among the many matters the COVID-19 outbreak has disrupted, it has become more challenging for some IP-owners to abide by the strict procedures and deadlines for protecting their intellectual property rights, including...more
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced last week it had sent warning letters to three companies advertising cannabidiol products with unproven claims that their products were able to treat or cure serious ailments...more
9/20/2019
/ Advertising ,
Canada ,
Cannabidiol (CBD) oil ,
Cannabis Act ,
Cannabis Products ,
FDA Warning Letters ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Food and Drug Act ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
Health Canada ,
Health Claims ,
Hemp ,
Marijuana Related Businesses ,
Marketing
Two recent copyright infringement disputes involved the rare intersection of intellectual property with real property.
In the first, the Ontario Court of Appeal determined who owned copyright in land surveys deposited with...more
Equip: IP Litigation Case of the Week -
Courts in Canada are presumed to be open and accessible to the public. Although a party’s commercial interests can be protected, a court will not grant a confidentiality order if...more
Equip: IP Litigation Case of the Week -
The cost of litigation can be a non-starter for an intellectual property owner with a strong infringement case. Litigation funding enterprises can help where the cost of litigation...more
Pharma and biologics manufacturers will soon have big decisions to make regarding their pharmaceutical and biological product strategy in Canada. On September 6, 2017, the Governor General in Council, on recommendation of the...more
A single product can, in some circumstances, attract more than one form of intellectual property (IP) protection. For example, if functioning as an indicator of source, a product itself can attract trademark protection while...more
A recent decision involving an AT&T trademark demonstrates how the global reach of technology businesses can sometimes result in a blurring of markets and make documentation of trademark use in Canada difficult to retrieve...more
In Ontario cottage country, locals have been confronted with the registration of the trademark HALIBURTON, the name of the county in which they operate. The registration may threaten uses made by other businesses in the area....more
The Supreme Court of Canada recently confirmed the availability of a novel form of worldwide injunction whereby Google, a non-party to the litigation, was required to block worldwide access to websites operated by a...more
7/31/2017
/ Canada ,
Communications Decency Act ,
Copyright ,
Copyright Infringement ,
Cross-Border ,
First Amendment ,
Google ,
Injunctions ,
Offensive Language ,
Search Engines ,
Social Networks ,
Supreme Court of Canada ,
Trade Secrets ,
Trademarks
The patent litigation that propels generic and biosimilar products to market will soon change dramatically. July 15, 2017, marked the release of long-awaited proposed amendments to the Patented Medicines (Notice of...more
The fair dealing user right, as an exception to copyright infringement, has its limits. The fact that a use falls within an enumerated purpose under the Copyright Act is no guarantee of immunity from infringement. To avoid...more
The Supreme Court of Canada has issued two IP decisions in the span of three days—both of which spell victory for IP rights-holders. One case confirms the availability of a novel form of worldwide injunction where a non-party...more
7/7/2017
/ Apotex ,
AstraZeneca ,
Canada ,
Counterfeiting ,
Google ,
Interlocutory Injunctions ,
Patent Act ,
Patent Infringement ,
Patent Invalidity ,
Patents ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Promise Doctrine ,
Supreme Court of Canada
The victory in the fight between two rum competitors demonstrates that unregistered trade dress rights are alive and well in Canada, admissible survey evidence remains a useful tool for proving confusion, and a competing...more
Delay in asserting IP rights can be detrimental to obtaining quick injunctive relief, and evidentiary gaps can make your case a non-starter. It is therefore important for a business to be prepared to advance claims against...more
In the United States, once a patentee has sold its product—whether domestically or internationally—its patent rights in that product are exhausted; the patentee can no longer use patent law to control refurbishing or resale...more
To succeed in a trademark infringement case, a plaintiff must prove a likelihood of confusion—that a casual consumer would likely be confused into thinking the source of the defendant's products or services is the same as or...more
Trademark protection for the shape and colour of pharmaceutical products remains elusive. Even if the appearance of a tablet or inhaler is unique, a trademark registration will be rejected without evidence that physicians,...more
In Canada, the losing party pays the winner’s litigation costs. For years, costs awards were assessed in accordance with a tariff and were generally inadequate. The Federal Court's recent trend in awarding lump sum costs...more
This week's most noteworthy development is not a single case—it is a practice direction that will govern how all complex intellectual property cases will be tried. The new Trial Management Guidelines formalize trial...more
Although it happens all the time, reproducing photographs found on the internet for use in business is fraught with risk. Businesses should only copy images where there is clear permission to use them—or face a substantial...more