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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

Federal Court vacates confidentiality designations contrary to agreement

  • February 15, 2022
  • William S. Foster

The Plaintiff, Akebia Therapeutics Inc. (ā€œAkebiaā€), brought a motion requesting that the Court vacate the Defendantā€™s, Fibrogen Inc. (ā€œFibrogenā€), designation of confidentiality over the entirety of two fact witness statements. The Court granted the motion on the basis that Fibrogenā€™s confidentiality designations were contrary to the terms of the Confidentiality Agreement between the parties.

Intellectual Property

Case summary: Federal Court refuses pleadings amendments on the eve of trial

  • January 31, 2022
  • Michal Kasprowicz

NCS Multistage (NCS) appealed two Orders denying its request, on the eve of trial, to amend its pleading to: (a) include a remedy of a constructive trust; and, (b) allege that the patent infringement at issue had started earlier than originally claimed and to compel production of certain technical drawings from this earlier period. NCSā€™s appeal was dismissed.

Intellectual Property

Federal Court of Appeal upholds Federal Court finding that patent claims for patent to apparatus and method for rapid auto-injection of medication are invalid and not infringed

  • November 19, 2021
  • Kelly McClellan

The Federal Court of Appeal upheld Seedlings Life Science Ventures v Pfizer Canada, 2020 FC 1, that found patent claims of an apparatus and method for rapid autoinjection (the ā€˜935 Patent) invalid for overbreadth, certain claims invalid for anticipation and obviousness, and not infringed (Ā¶4, 6), and set aside the Federal Courtā€™s conclusion that claims for an accounting of profits would be disallowed from licensees (Ā¶77-81).

Intellectual Property

Case summary: Pfizer Canada ULC v Seedlings Life Science Ventures LLC, 2021 FCA 155

  • November 19, 2021
  • Kelly McClellan

The Federal Court of Appeal dismissed an appeal of a Federal Court judgment (Seedlings Life Science Ventures v Pfizer, 2019 FC 1396 (FC Reasons)), that admitted into evidence certain documents produced as business records related to remedies during examination for discovery of a witness in a patent infringement trial because it determined the issue was moot (FCA Reasons, Ā¶1,6).

Intellectual Property

In the alternative: An unusual alternative request to damages

  • November 18, 2021
  • Ben Pearson

DeepRoot brought patent infringement action alleging that GreenBlueā€™s ā€œRootSpaceā€ product infringes various claims of their Patents number 2,552,348 (348 Patent) and number 2,829,599 (599 Patent). The Patents related to a subsurface structural cell system that supports the hardscape (e.g. sidewalk), enables stormwater retention and filtration as well as allowing tree roots to grow in uncompacted soil.

Intellectual Property