Trends, analysis and insights in IP Law
In May 2021, CIPO added upwards of 60 cannabis- and marijuana-related terms to the Goods and Services Manual (the “Manual”).
Most of the new terms fall into Nice Classes 3 (non-medicated toiletry preparations), 5 (pharmaceuticals), and 30 (foodstuffs of plant origin). However, new terms have also been added in Class 16 (namely “printed publications in the field of cannabis”), 42 (“scientific research in the field of cannabis”) and 45 (“legal research in the field of cannabis”).
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A few months ago, my colleague Jay Kerr-Wilson published this blog post on the intellectual property issues surrounding the phenomenon of “Let’s Play” videos, a genre of online videos where an individual records and broadcasts themselves playing a video game. The individual might film themselves or just provide audio commentary, but in either scenario their own content is layered on top of the game that they are playing. The blog post discusses how this video genre could be considered copyright infringement with respect to the video game being played, as well as why generally we are not seeing infringement cases in this area because of the symbiotic relationship between content creators and video game publishers.
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Today, April 26th, is World Intellectual Property Day. This year’s theme is shining a light on the critical role of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the economy and how they can use intellectual property (“IP”) to build stronger, more competitive and resilient businesses.
On April 19th, 2021, the Canadian government released its first budget under the COVID pandemic (“Budget 2021”). Budget 2021 addresses the Government of Canada’s fight against COVID-19 and its desire to ensure a robust economic recovery. As part of the latter, Canada is investing in innovation.
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Internet Service Providers (ISPs) have seen an increase in litigation related to Canada’s notice-and-notice regime since it was added to the Copyright Act in 2012. Plaintiffs, generally the owners of copyright in films, have brought claims in Federal Court using various procedures. The Court recently released a decision offering guidance on the proper way to do so although there is still some uncertainty on this point.
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On January 15, 2021, the Patented Medicines Prices Review Board (“PMPRB”) initiated a consultation on two proposed amendments to the new PMPRB Guidelines (“Guidelines”): (1) the definition of Gap medicines; and (2) the compliance timeline for Grandfathered and Gap medicines.
According to the PMPRB, the two amendments were required due to the change in the coming-into-force date of the Regulations Amending the Patented Medicines Regulations (“Regulations”), which was pushed from January 1, 2021 to July 1, 2021.
And so, on March 17th, the PMPRB rendered its decision.
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