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Category Archives: Canada

Analysis, Canada, Copyrights, Intellectual property, Patent Prosecution, Trademark

Trademark Owners and Franchisors Beware: in Milano Pizza Ltd. v. 6034799 Canada Inc., Lack of Licensor Control Leads to Invalidation of Trademark

May 17, 2022 Nicolas Charest, Michael Shortt and Brooke Naomi Levy

In its recent Milano Pizza Ltd. v. 6034799 Canada Inc. decision, the Federal Court ordered the expungement of a trademark registration because the plaintiff did not exercise sufficient control over the use of the trademark by its licensees. This decision provides a helpful reminder of the dangers of relying on verbal agreements instead of written trademark licenses, and the need for trademark owners to maintain control over their licensees.

Canada, Patent Prosecution, Patents

Canadian Strategies for New Patent Rule

March 21, 2022 Mark Penner and Alain Leclerc

Upcoming Changes to Canadian Patent Practice Could Mean Increased Costs. Can you take steps now to mitigate?

As part of the implementation of the patent term adjustment (PTA) obligation in the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (“CUSMA”), the Government of Canada proposed a series of amendments to the Canadian Patent Rules to better streamline the patent examination process.

As noted in our earlier blog post, the proposed amendments provided for a request for continued examination requirement and a new notice from the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (“CIPO”) to applicants named a “conditional notice of allowance”, both of which are designed to streamline the patent examination process.

Analysis, Canada, Patents

Key Takeaways from Ongoing PMPRB Litigation

February 28, 2022 Dara Jospé and Eric Saragosa

UPDATE: On April 14, 2022, the Minister of Health announced that the federal government will not proceed with amendments to the Patented Medicines Regulations introducing new pharmacoeconomic factors and requiring that price and revenue information be reported net of all adjustments. The federal government will proceed with amendments establishing a new basket of comparator countries, with a coming-into-force date of July 1, 2022. For more information, see our Life Sciences Bulletin on the Minister’s announcement.

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This article provides an update on each of these cases and highlights the growing body of jurisprudence questioning the PMPRB’s price control reasoning.

Analysis, Canada, Trademark

Trademark Year in Review: Notable Trademark Decisions in 2021

February 17, 2022 Lina Bensaidane, Isabelle Kalar and Jean-Philippe Mikus

(French version available at bottom of article)

The past year has brought forward several important decisions in Canada trademark law. From depreciation of goodwill claims, objections founded on bad faith and lack of distinctiveness, several cases have highlighted certain challenges that trademark owners may face in enforcing their rights.

Canada, Copyrights, Intellectual property, IP Litigation

Lavigne (Valmedia) v. 9061-6632 Québec inc.: Infringement of moral rights will not go unpunished

February 1, 2022 Isabelle Kalar

(French version available at bottom of article)

True to its continental European heritage, Canada has a strong regime for the protection of moral rights. This includes the inalienable right of creators to be associated with their work as its author and to protect its integrity, notwithstanding any assignment of economic rights. These rights have been recognized in Canada under the Copyright Act (the “Act”) since 1931 and have been repeatedly recognized in past decisions of the Supreme Court of Canada¹.