On May 24, 2024, after nearly 25 years of negotiations, the World Intellectual Property Office (WIPO) announced that member states, including Canada, had agreed to a new Treaty on Intellectual Property, Genetic Resources and...more
The 2010s saw many developments in Canadian patent law. Establishment of a trade agreement with the European Union, ratification of an international IP treaty, implementation of a national IP strategy, and other domestic...more
On September 17, 2019, Canada formally became a party to the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), an international treaty that aims to regulate trade of conventional arms, including small arms, battle tanks, missiles, and...more
On June 17, 2019, Canada’s Trademarks Act changed, resulting in its modernization. Canada has now joined five international intellectual property treaties, including the Madrid Protocol, Singapore Treaty and Nice Agreement,...more
On March 29, 2019, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) published its annual National Trade Estimate (NTE) Report on Foreign Trade Barriers, which "highlights significant foreign barriers to U.S....more
In 2018 we reported on a number of developments in life sciences IP and regulatory law. Our most-read articles were: #1 a June update on biosimilars (authored by Urszula Wojtyra); #2 a “live” summary chart of Vanessa’s Law...more
Canada will become the 69th member of the Hague Union related to International Registration of Industrial Designs on November 5, 2018. As a result, the creators of Industrial Designs in Canada will soon be able to file a...more
Canada has joined the Hague system by depositing the instrument of ratification of the Geneva Act of the Hague Agreement on July 16th, 2018. This agreement provides the means of protection for Canadian industrial designs...more
On June 27, 2018 the Government of Canada published the new Industrial Design Regulations in the Canada Gazette and set November 5, 2018 as the date on which amendments to the Industrial Design Act and Regulations will come...more
One of the benefits of a patent under the U.S. system is, for a limited time, the patent owner gets the exclusive right to manufacture, use and sell the invention. The public policy behind this is to create an incentive for...more
As we reported previously, Canadian trademark law will be significantly changed to adhere to several international treaties. Although the timing of the changes is uncertain, it appears that the changes are likely to come...more
On June 30, 2016, the Government of Canada announced plans to modify Canada’s export control system to comply with the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT). The proposed changes include new regulations on arms brokering, a formalization...more
According to the most recent estimates, the quantity of goods carried by containers has risen from around 100 million metric tons in 1980 to about 1.5 billion metric tons in 2012. Out of these numbers, one container in every...more
The Constitution gives Congress the power to grant copyright and patent protection in the same part of Article I, specifically in Section 8, Clause 8...more
The Federal Government recently introduced Bill C-31, the Economic Action Plan Act 2014, No.1. Bill C-31 is an omnibus bill which makes changes to nearly 40 different pieces of legislation. Among these amendments are changes...more