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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

Trade-marks: Use it or lose it.

Posted on January 24, 2011
My article on trade-marks and the Federal Court of Appeal decision in Jose Cuervo S.A. de C.V. v. Bacardi and Co., [2010] F.C.J. No. 1208 is published in the January 21, 2011 edition of the Lawyers Weekly: “Trade-mark owners must use it or lose it”...

Open Source Software Round-Up

Posted on January 20, 2011
We have compiled a few recent open-source software (OSS) stories: GPL in the App Store: A recent article on ZDNet reviews the differences in treatment of apps subject to the General Public License (GPL) in Apple’s App Store compared with Google’s Android Market...

Canadian Privacy Decision Awards Damages

Posted on January 17, 2011
When you apply for a bank loan, a credit check is one of the first steps taken by the bank. TransUnion is one of the two major national credit reporting agencies in Canada and when Calgarian Mirza Nammo applied to the Royal Bank (RBC) for a business loan, the RBC ran a credit check through [...

Apps, Bots and Workarounds - Part 3

Posted on January 12, 2011
Here is the last case in our trio: MLS Database - As a follow-up to our earlier post ( Data Mining Decision), you may recall the story of a real estate broker who tried to repackage the MLS listings controlled by the Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB)...

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Apps, Bots and Workarounds - Part 2

Posted on January 10, 2011
Here is the next case in our trio: BlackBerry - Consider the problems faced by Canada’s world-leader in mobile devices. You open an app store to compete with Apple, so the little guys can develop interesting apps. The problem is, little guys keep developing interesting apps...

Apps, Bots and Workarounds - Part 1

Posted on January 07, 2011
We’ll review a trio of cases that illustrate the line drawn by the law when software users try to do an end-run around a software owner: World of Warcraft (WoW) - Blizzard is the publisher of the popular WoW multiplayer game. MDY sold an autopilot bot marketed as “Glider“ that automatically played the lower levels of WoW, [...

Intellectual Property Law in 2011

Posted on January 03, 2011
. Thanks 2010, intellectual property and internet law had an interesting ride. Here are a few issues to watch in 2011: Canadian Copyright Reform and Anti-Spam Law: Around this time last year, we predicted that copyright reform wouldn’t come to Canada until 2011 at the earliest...

Intellectual Property & Jail Time

Posted on December 16, 2010
Can intellectual property theft or infringement lead to jail time? An employee can walk out the door with all kinds of interesting information. Customer lists, business methods, intellectual property of all descriptions. Last week a US jury convicted an ex-employee of Goldman Sachs of trade-secret violations arising out of his theft of software code...

Update: Canadian Online Defamation & Hyperlink Case

Posted on December 16, 2010
The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) is currently considering its verdict in the long-running case of Crookes v Newton The BC Court of Appeal?s 2009 decision (in Crookes v. Newton 2009 BCCA 392) held that Mr. Newton was not liable for hyperlinks to defamatory content...

App Trade-Secrets Case Settles

Posted on December 16, 2010
The long-running battle between two of the app industry’s biggest players has settled: Zynga v Playdom (acquired in the summer by Disney). This lawsuit, in many ways, illustrates the battle for dominance in a highly competitive industry like app development, and included allegations against former employees of misappropriation of trade secrets, breach of contract, and breach of [...

Canada?s Clean Energy Strategy

Posted on November 25, 2010
Should Canada develop a national clean energy strategy? There have been calls for a coordinated national approach to leverage Canada’s ability to compete for investment in the clean-energy market, which was worth over $160 billion in 2009. Earlier this year, a report was released to review the rationale for national coordination on this issue [Link to Report: [...

Legal Implications of App Development

Posted on November 22, 2010
My article on the Legal Implications of App Development [Download Copy of Article (2MB PDF)] is published in the November 19th edition of The Lawyers Weekly. It discusses “app law“ issues such as end-user licensing, copyright disputes, app-related trade-mark issues, trade-secrets, privacy and app development agreements...

Climate Change Bill Killed

Posted on November 19, 2010
The proposed Climate Change Accountability Act was passed by the House but killed in the Senate on Wednesday, marking an end to this attempt to set Canadian targets for atmospheric greenhouse gases. The bill also touched on funds or incentives for technology that could be implemented to reduce GHG emissions and the establishment of a [...

Amazon Business Method Case to be Appealed

Posted on November 18, 2010
In our post last month [Business Method Patents in Canada ], we noted the groundbreaking decision that upheld Amazon’s 1-click patent, and established that business methods are patentable in Canada. It now appears the Commissioner of Patents has decided to appeal that decision...

Trade-mark Update: Indigo vs. Preferred One

Posted on November 17, 2010
One company files a Canadian trade-mark application for IREWARD based on “proposed use” for a customer loyalty program. In other words, they intend to use it, but haven’t yet launched their service. However, they know that when they do start using the mark, they’ll benefit from their October 15th filing date...

Canadian Copyright Bill

Posted on November 10, 2010
The Canadian government’s proposed reform of the Copyright Act has passed “Second Reading”. For those of you who are a little rusty on your Canadian parliamentary procedure, this means that Bill C-32 will next go to committee for analysis and debate...

App Law Update - Part 2: Breach of GPL

Posted on November 08, 2010
Here are two more interesting cases involving apps for sale through the App Store. These cases arise from an alleged breach of open source software licenses. In this case, the open source code was licensed under the terms of the GPL. When GPL-licensed code is used or embedded in an iPhone app, does the licensing [...

App Law Update - Part 1: Settlement of App Privacy Breach

Posted on November 05, 2010
Last year, app-developer Storm8 made headlines when allegations surfaced that it gathered the phone numbers from its end-users? phones without authorization, through software built into its iPhone apps. The case of Turner v Storm8 LLC, (Case No. 09-cv-05234-CW) (N...

Update: Green Technology Patents in Canada

Posted on November 03, 2010
Today the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) closed its 30-day comment period on proposed changes allowing for fast-tracking of clean tech patent applications. CIPO currently permits expedited examination of a patent application upon request and payment of a fee...

Did You Say Arbitration in Kazakhstan?

Posted on October 28, 2010
It’s not that far-fetched. Companies who sign a contract can agree in advance to resolve their disputes through arbitration. The law that governs that arbitration, and even the place of arbitration, can all be determined in a “dispute resolution clause”...

The Perils of Co-ownership of Intellectual Property

Posted on October 25, 2010
When parties are negotiating a new business deal - maybe an investment, joint-venture, research or a pilot project - they often agree to joint ownership of the resulting intellectual property, as an easy starting point. Let’s look at one case involving trade-marks...

Who is liable under an End-User Agreement?

Posted on October 20, 2010
You download the software…you click “I accept”. Now, who is on the hook? Two recent cases illustrate the different ways that End-User License Agreements (EULAs) will be upheld by the courts. Canada: In Bérubé v. Rational Entertainment Limited, 2010 ONSC 5545 (CanLII), a user in Ontario clicked through a license agreement when she opened an account with [...

When A Facebook App Breaches Privacy

Posted on October 18, 2010
In my review of iPhone App Law, I have discussed the case of Turner v Storm8 (Complaint), a 2009 US federal class action lawsuit that alleged a privacy breach by an iPhone app developer. The lawsuit alleged that Storm8, creator of ?iMobster? and ?Vampires Live,? wrote its software to collect phone numbers automatically when players downloaded [...

Business Method Patents in Canada

Posted on October 15, 2010
In our post earlier this year (Business Method Patents: Amazon Clicks Through) we reviewed the story of Amazon’s battle with the Canadian patent office over its famous 1-click patent. South of the border, the USPTO confirmed the patentability of many of the Amazon’s claims earlier this year...

Clean Energy Patents on the Rise

Posted on October 14, 2010
The Clean Tech sector is IP-intense, and patent protection strategy is front and centre for most clean tech companies. According to the Clean Energy Patent Growth Index (CEPGI), patent filings are on the rise in the Clean Tech sector. Results from the second quarter of 2010 show that U...

Trade-mark Paperwork

Posted on October 06, 2010
Trade-marks can appear almost anywhere. But you have to be able to see them at the point of purchase for the brand to function as a trade-mark under Canadian law. Take this example. A purveyor of fine bathroom tissue tried to registered the floral pattern at left as a trade-mark...

Technology Commercialization

Posted on September 29, 2010
Technology commercialization starts with the invention or creation of something marketable - a new device, a tool, an algorithm, a software application. Before you start to commercialize it, one of the first questions is: Who owns it? If an employee invents something marketable, employers will commonly claim that they own their employee’s invention...

Copyright Trolls

Posted on September 27, 2010
Maybe you’ve heard of patent trolls - companies who own a patent or two, but don’t actually manufacture or sell any products. When they see that another company has become independently successful, they pounce, alleging patent infringement and millions of dollars in damages...

When an iPhone App Infringes Copyright

Posted on September 22, 2010
A television production company noticed that audio-clips from its popoular TV show were being used in a new iPhone app called “Chopper Soundboard”. (Follow-up story here) While this was an Australian company, the issue is also a common one in both Canada and the US, as owners of copyright content notice that iPhone and iPad developers will [...

Time for Sound Marks in Canada?

Posted on September 17, 2010
India recently granted its first “sound mark” to Yahoo Inc., in a development that brings India’s trade-mark registration system in line with the US, the EU, Australia and other trade-mark registries around the world. (Click here to listen the audio clip of the Yahoo yodel)...

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