The Angle Blog | Trends, analysis and insights in IP Law

The Federal Court of Appeal has spoken: actual damage doesn’t need to be proved in order to obtain statutory damages under the Copyright Act

March 31, 2022 Alexandra Lemelin, Nicolas Charest and Michael Shortt

In its February 2022 decision in RallySport Direct LLC, the Federal Court of Appeal (“FCA”) reiterated and confirmed the principle established in the decision of the Ontario Superior Court in Trader. This Court determined that a copyright owner could claim the statutory damages provided in section 38.1 of the Copyright Act (“Act”), even where there was no monetary damage and no loss of business opportunity.

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.

IP Litigation, Trademark

Virtual reality: navigating trademark challenges in the metaverse

March 17, 2022 Nicolas Charest, Eliane Ellbogen and Simon Hitchens

Nicolas Charest, Eliane Ellbogen and Simon Hitchens suggest how brand owners can navigate the various challenges they are likely to face when using, protecting and enforcing their trademarks in relation to the metaverse.

Click here to read the complete article on Managing IP.

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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.