Trends, analysis and insights in IP Law
The Government of Canada is proposing regulatory amendments to the Canadian Patent Rules. The proposed amendments were published on July 3, 2021 and the public has 30 days to provide comments[1]. The final rules are expected to be published in fall 2021 and implemented in late 2021.
Continue reading
The Canadian Trademark landscape has changed significantly over the last few years with a modernized trademarks regime. The challenges that have arisen since Canada’s 2019 accession to the Singapore Treaty, the Madrid Protocol, and the Nice Agreement, along with various input from stakeholders, have guided the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) in adopting new measures to accelerate the prosecution of trademark applications. With the time to the issuance of a first examination report reaching recently 24-30 months in the case of some national applications, these measures need to be carefully considered. Two new practice notices are intended to address delays in examination, namely:
As it currently stands, Canadian courts have not yet addressed the issue of copyright in recipes, but what can we learn from the leading caselaw on the subject from the United States? Although there are important differences between copyright law in Canada and the U.S., it seems likely that Canadian courts would at least consider the state of the law in the U.S. should the issue ever appear in front of them.
Continue reading
On June 28, 2021, the newly instituted College of Patent Agents and Trademark Agents (“CPATA”) began operations as the professional regulator of patent and trademark agents. The organization is the fruit of more than a decade of work and is an important milestone under Canada’s Intellectual Property Strategy.
Continue reading
The Federal Court recently released its decision in Winkler v. Hendley, 2021 FC 498 [Winkler] in which it found that an author who claims to have published a non-fictional work cannot later claim that the work was in fact fictional in order to get around the principle that facts are not protected by copyright law.
Continue reading