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Intellectual
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CBA Intellectual Property Section

Articles are published by the Intellectual Property Section. Members interested in posting articles are encouraged to send them to the Section by email: CBAI_P@cba.org.

Today
Today

Case summary: Federal Court orders damages for trademark infringement on a motion for default judgment

  • May 03, 2022
  • Michal Kasprowicz

UBS Group AG (UBS) sought default judgment in a trademark infringement action to enforce its UBS family of registered marks against a corporate defendant, Unified Business Solutions Group, as well as its directors. Unified Business Solutions Group was using a design that incorporated an abbreviated version of its name – UBS – in association with financial services.

Intellectual Property

Case summary: The Federal Court of Appeal rules no copyright infringement of jewelry designs

  • May 03, 2022
  • Homira Haqani

In this Federal Court of Appeal (“FCA”) decision, the Appellant, Pyrrha Design Inc., (“Pyrrha”) brought a copyright infringement claim against the Respondent, Plum and Posey Inc. (“Plum and Posey”), arguing that the Respondent had infringed its designs of jewelry that resembled wax seal impressions.

Intellectual Property

Case summary: Pharmascience Inc. v. Teva Canada Innovation

  • May 03, 2022
  • David Laurie

In 2020, the Federal Court heard the trial of two patent infringement actions commenced under the PM(NOC) Regulations, concerning whether Pharmascience would infringe Teva’s two patents for COPAXONE 40 mg by entering the market with its generic version, GLATECT 40 mg.

Intellectual Property

Case summary: Section 31 exemption only applies to retransmitters

  • May 03, 2022
  • David Laurie

The defendants are a group of companies, which together developed a system that provides the retransmission of television content, including TVA and TVA sports, in hotel rooms via a private network. In this action, the plaintiffs allege that the defendants infringed their copyright by broadcasting the TVA and TVA sports channels without their authorization.

Intellectual Property

Case Summary: Unreliable evidence resulted in invalidation of trademark registration

  • May 03, 2022
  • Hung Nguyen

iSpring filed an application to register APEC WATER for water treatment devices on April 23, 2015. It claimed a date of first use in Canada since August 4, 2012. Its application was advertised on September 21, 2016 and registered on April 26, 2017. On November 21, 2019, Advanced applied to register its trademark APEC WATER and learned of iSpring’s registration.

Intellectual Property

Case Summary: Federal Court applies the competence-competence principle, stays proceeding in favour of arbitration in Bermuda

  • May 03, 2022
  • David Schnittker

This was an appeal by the Defendants of a decision by case management judge (“CMJ”) Milczynski. The CMJ dismissed their motion to stay the Plaintiffs’ copyright infringement action in favour of arbitration in Bermuda. On appeal, the Court found that the CMJ erred in law, and granted the stay of proceedings.

Intellectual Property

Case Summary: Expert opinion evidence on ultimate issue in a judicial review proceeding struck

  • May 03, 2022
  • Cheryl Cheung

This decision dealt with a motion brought by the Attorney General of Canada (AGC) to strike three affidavits filed by Galderma Canada Inc. (Galderma) in the context of a judicial review application brought by Galderma. The judicial review was in regards to a redetermination decision of the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board (PMPRB) relating to Galderma’s drug Differin.

Intellectual Property

Online advertising patent decision

  • May 02, 2022
  • Ken Clark

This lengthy decision involved a patent dispute between PSET and Google in respect of a patent for online advertising entitled “management of advertising expenses in online media,” after a 15-day trial.

Intellectual Property