The appellant, Maoz Betser-Zilevitch (“Mr. Betser”), appealed a decision of the Federal Court (the “Judgment”, 2021 FC 85), dismissing his action against the respondent, PetroChina Canada Ltd. (“PCC”), alleging infringement of his Canadian Patent No. 2,584,627 (the “627 Patent”). Mr. Betser also appealed the decision on costs (the “Costs Judgment,” 2021 FC 151).

Pharamscience Inc. (PMS) is appealing the rejection of its various invalidity attacks on two of Bristol-Myers Squibb’s (BMS) patents – the 2,461,202 patent (202 Patent) and 2,791,171 patent (171 Patent). The 202 Patent specifically claims apixaban, an FXa inhibitor used to treat thromboembolic disorders. The 171 Patent describes a method to formulate apixaban so that it effectively dissolves in vivo.

Janssen Inc. (“Janssen”) markets a prescription medication called OPSUMIT® in Canada for the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). OPSUMIT® contains the active substance macitentan. Canadian Patent No. 2,659,770 (the “770 Patent”), owned by Actelion Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (“Actelion”), covers the use of macitentan in combination with a phosphodiesterase type-5 inhibitor (PDE5-I) to treat vasoconstriction-related diseases including PAH.

The Plaintiff, Google, brought an action alleging that the Sonos smart speakers infringe Google’s 150 Patent. The 150 Patent relates to a system of echo cancellation and noise suppression in which the order of echo cancellation and noise suppression is adaptively determined based on an amount of noise in the received signal.

Randy River owns a trademark registration for “R2” for shirts and shorts, among others. Osler initiated a section 45 proceeding against this registration. Randy River did not file any evidence of use. As a result, the Registrar expunged the registration. Randy River appealed the Registrar’s decision to the Federal Court of Canada.

In a trademark passing off/infringement proceeding, the plaintiff sought leave to amend its statement of claim to add a new party as a co-defendant and add new infringement allegations.

Mars Canada Inc. (Mars) commenced an action against a number of online retailers – King Tuts Cannabis, West Coast Supply, Shrooms Online, Flash Buds, Sure Buds – alleging that each had sold in Canada THC-infused products in packaging that would likely be confused with Skittles packaging, resulting in consumer confusion and depreciation of goodwill to the brand. Mars sought default judgment against the defendants, other than King Tuts Cannabis.

The Applicant, William B. Vass (“Vass”), requested expungement of a trademark owned by the Respondent, Leef Inc. (“Leef”), a Canadian corporation in the business of manufacturing and designing furniture. The trademark, described as a blue and grey leaf pattern with the word “Leef” in blue (“Mark”), was not placed on the furniture themselves, but was included in digital brochures, product specifications, invoices for the goods, and at other stages of the sales process.

The Federal Court dismissed an appeal by District Brewing Company, the Applicant in a trademark opposition proceeding. The Court found that though parties are not usually allowed to bring evidence or make submissions pertaining to matters not pleaded, a decision-maker may be flexible in allowing a party to raise an issue that is outside a literal reading of the pleadings, provided that no unfairness results.

Federal Court upholds decision of Associate Justice refusing to strike pleading based on a preliminary and non-limiting illustration of patent infringement