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Intellectual Property Law

Intellectual Property in Canada (ipblog.ca)

Intellectual property law, copyright, trademarks and Internet law in Canada.
By Richard P.W. Stobbe

Post Frequency: 39.2/day

Last Entry: January 07, 2020 at 08:00:07

Click-Through Agreements

Posted on January 07, 2020
. By Richard Stobbe Sierra Trading Post is an Internet retailer of brand-name outdoor gear, family apparel, footwear, sporting goods. Sierra lists comparison prices on its site to show consumers that its goods are competitively priced. Chen, the plaintiff, sued Sierra, claiming the website’s comparison prices were false, deceptive, or misleading...

Canadian Site-Blocking Decision

Posted on December 18, 2019
By Richard Stobbe A streaming service known as “GoldTV” was in the business of rebroadcasting television programing through online broadcasting or streaming services to Canadian consumers. This had the effect of eating into the core business model of traditional Canadian broadcasters such as Bell Media and Rogers...

Copyright Fight: Hollywood versus a Film School Project

Posted on December 16, 2019
By Richard Stobbe In the interesting case of Pourshian v. Walt Disney Company, 2019 ONSC 5916 (CanLII), plaintiff Mr. Pourshian says that in 1998, while in high school, he conceived the idea of a film in which a character’s internal organs (Heart, Stomach, Colon, Bladder and Brain), were portrayed as personified characters...

Privacy Update: Transborder Data Flow

Posted on December 11, 2019
By Richard Stobbe In our post earlier this year (Privacy Update: Will Consent be Required for Outsourcing Canadian Data?) we reviewed the changes proposed by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada. These changes would have changed the way the Commissioner viewed transborder flows of personal information...

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Infringing Trademarks Cannot Remain on the Register

Posted on December 09, 2019
By Richard Stobbe In a battle between the suitcase makers, the Federal Court of Appeal found that Travelway Group International Ltd. (Travelway), had infringed the trademarks owned by Wenger,�and had passed off its own goods as Wenger’s. The Court granted Wenger a declaration of trademark infringement, ordered a permanent injunction prohibiting Travelway from using its […]

Copyright and Code: Can a Software Developer Take a Shortcut?

Posted on December 02, 2019
By Richard Stobbe Let’s say an employee is hired as a software engineer to develop an application for the employer. �The employee completes the project, and the software program is launched as a commercial product. Copyright is registered in the software, showing the employee as author, and the employer as owner...

BitCoin and Cryptoasset Regulation: Recent Cases from Canada

Posted on November 27, 2019
By Richard Stobbe In a recent pair of decisions, the law around bitcoin, crypto-assets and blockchain-enabled tokens is continuing to evolve: 1.� 3iQ and ?The Bitcoin Fund? In 3iQ Corp (Re), 2019 ONSEC 37 (CanLII), the Ontario Securities Commission has ruled in favour of a bitcoin fund manager in an interesting decision that pits the […]

The Scope of Crown Copyright

Posted on October 28, 2019
By Richard Stobbe It’s time to update our 2015 post�about copyright in survey plans!��In the course of their work, land surveyors in Ontario prepare a survey document, and that document is routinely scanned into the province?s land registry database...

Canadian Smart Contract Law: Is it broke and do we need to fix it?

Posted on October 24, 2019
. By Richard Stobbe The idea of a ‘smart contract’ has been a lot of things: it’s upheld as the next big thing, a beacon of change for society, a nail in the coffin of an inefficient legal services profession, and it’s criticized as a misnomer for ‘dumb code’...

Clarity on IP Licenses and Bankruptcy

Posted on September 16, 2019
By Richard Stobbe As we wrote about a year ago (See: What happens to IP on bankruptcy? ), we have been anticipating amendments to the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act (BIA) and Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA) relating to IP licenses in cases where the IP licensor becomes insolvent...

To hack or not to hack?

Posted on March 31, 2011
� That is the business question for many in the software industry, including Microsoft, Sony and Twitter. Software companies have to consider whether to embrace the hacking (…or�shall we say “custom development”)�culture of their customers, or gird for battle against the hackers...

Update: Clean Technology Patents in Canada

Posted on March 23, 2011
The Canadian Intellectual Property Office announced last week that the new clean-tech patent rules are now in force. The new rules officially came into force on March 3, 2011. This will permit applicants to obtain expedited prosecution of applications when the invention is related to green technology...

When a ?Substantial Payment? is not enough

Posted on March 21, 2011
In a recent trade-mark dispute, the parties entered into a settlement agreement of sorts. The dispute was over use of the mark GUTTERFILTER and resulted in litigation in both Canada and the US. Under the terms of settlement, one party would cease its use of the mark, and the other party would�make a payment - [...

US Patent Reform: Status Update

Posted on March 17, 2011
The US Senate has been grappling with a proposed reform of patent law for many years - hence the various proposed bills such as the Patent Reform Act of 2007, the The Patent Reform Act of 2009 and The Patent Reform Act of 2011. Last week the US Senate passed S...

Holograms & Other Nontraditional Trade-marks in Canada

Posted on March 14, 2011
The Canadian Intellectual Property Office is expected to announce new guidelines on “nontraditional marks” sometime this year. In their current proposed practice notice, the office would allow motion marks and holograms as two types of nontraditional marks...

Myriad Issues: Patentability of Isolated DNA

Posted on March 10, 2011
In March 2010, a U.S. district court’s�ruling that isolated DNA and inventions that use isolated DNA are not eligible for patent�protection�sent shockwaves through the biotech and life sciences sector in Canada and the US. Association for Molecular Pathology v USPTO, 09 Civ...

Online Agreements: Do ?Releases? Really Work?

Posted on March 07, 2011
� We’ve all agreed to releases and waivers. We do it on paper, before bungee jumping, skiing or attending a kids’ birthday party. Or we agree online, before booking an event, ordering a product or downloading software. This is the fine print that essentially says that the operator or vendor has no liability or limited liability [...

Online Agreements: What does Second Life have in common with the Canadian Wheat Board?

Posted on March 03, 2011
� Answer: Forum Selection.� The concept of “forum selection” can be summed up as follows: where 2 parties are entering into a contract and they are located in different jurisdictions (different countries, provinces or states), then they can choose the “forum” or the location where their disputes will be settled...

Copyright in ?Art?

Posted on March 01, 2011
� What do you get when you photograph someone else’s photograph? German photographer Michael Wolf received honorable mention in this year’s World Press Photo Contest�for a series of images from Google Street View. He scrolled / strolled through Street View in different cities, and photographed scenes that he came upon...

Update: Canadian Keyword Advertising

Posted on February 25, 2011
� Is the use of a competitor’s name in keyword advertising considered trade-mark infringement?� The short answer is that in Canada, we still don’t know. The closest decision�we have is from a recent lawsuit which deals with competing career colleges in Vancouver...

Part 3: Patent Damages & the Demise of the 25% Rule

Posted on February 22, 2011
In our earlier posts, we reviewed the recent Uniloc decision in the US that effectively disposed of the 25% Rule of calculating patent damages. Has this rule been used in Canada? To a certain extent, yes. Here are 2 leading cases: In Alliedsignal Inc...

Business Method Patents: US Update

Posted on February 18, 2011
While the Canadian “business method patent” debate continues by means of the Amazon appeal, the debate is also continuing in the US. South of the border, courts are applying the US Supreme Court’s reasoning in the infamous Bilski case...

Part 2: Patent Damages & the Demise of the 25% Rule

Posted on February 16, 2011
How do we value IP? In a patent infringement case, a plaintiff (the patent holder, whose patent is infringed) can get 2 types of remedies: either damages or an accounting of profits.� If the plaintiff proves infringement, then it can elect only one of these 2 remedies...

VenturePrize Reminder

Posted on February 14, 2011
� A reminder: The Annual TEC VenturePrize Business Plan Competition is still open. The submission deadline for registration for the VenturePrize Fast Growth Competition is February 24, 2011, 4:00 p.m. Field Law is a proud sponsor. See this link for details...

Part 1: Patent Damages & the Demise of the 25% Rule

Posted on February 10, 2011
What is intellectual property worth? It is notoriously difficult to ascertain damages for patent infringement.� In the US, the “25% Rule” has been used as a rule of thumb in countless cases and negotiations, as a way of�determining fair compensation for infringement of a�patent...

CleanTech & Clean Energy: Innovation vs Patents

Posted on February 07, 2011
Check out Field Law’s CleanTech and Clean Energy practice area. Is innovation encouraged or stifled by the current patent�regime? It’s an old debate which is constantly being reignited. An article by Prof. Guaragna�from UBC’s Sauder School of Business argues that the monopoly granted to patent holders has the effect of choking innovation and development in battling [...

CIPO?s Patent Prosecution Highway

Posted on February 04, 2011
This week, the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) commenced a Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) - Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) pilot project based on PCT work products established by CIPO as the International Searching Authority (ISA) and/or the International Preliminary Examining Authority (IPEA)...

Descriptive Trade-marks in Canada

Posted on February 01, 2011
� Who can get a monopoly on a particular word? Is it fair for someone to get a trade-mark for the word TEACHERS’? Under Canadian trade-mark law, there’s nothing stopping a company from obtaining a trade-mark over almost any word, as long as it meets the registration criteria...

IP Rights in China

Posted on January 28, 2011
The relationship between China and Canadian business is a complex one. Rising wages and a swelling Chinese middle class will fuel demand for Canadian products and commodities. However, rising wages in China’s manufacturing sector and increased fuel costs will also increase the price of Chinese imports for Canadian companies who have outsourced their manufacturing to [...

CleanTech in Calgary

Posted on January 26, 2011
The Global Clean Energy Congress and Exhibition�will be coming to Calgary from November 1 - 3, 2011.� This should be an excellent venue for showcasing local technologies in the cleantech sector.� In related news, the Canadian Intellectual Property Office’s proposal to amend the patent rules to permit expedited examination of patent applications related to green technology [...

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