Federal Court dismisses appeal regarding mischaracterization of joinder request as request to amend claim

These reasons deal with the costs and disbursements payable to Google (Defendants) as a result of their successful counterclaim as determined in 2021 FC 1435, in which McDonald J held that PSET’s (Plaintiff) ‘167 patent was invalid and not infringed. Ultimately McDonald J awarded costs at a higher level by reference to the upper range of Column of IV of Tariff B.

In this case, the Federal Court allowed an appeal of a decision by the Trademarks Opposition Board on behalf of the Registrar to reject a request by Anheuser-Busch, LLC for leave to file an amended Statement of Opposition pursuant to section 48 of the Trademarks Regulations, SOR/2018-227 in the opposition of H.OW. Medical Solutions Ltd.’s trademark application for the mark HELPING PEOPLE FEEL BETTER ONE BUD AT A TIME in association with a broad range of cannabis products filed on May 11, 2018.

In 2016, Angelcare Development Inc. and other companies (collectively, “Angelcare”) sued Munchkin, Inc. and Munchkin Baby Canada, Ltd (“Munchkin”) for patent infringement, referencing six patents in connection with its “Diaper Genie” diaper disposal system: 2,640,384, 2,855,159, 2,936,415, 2,936,421, 2,937,312, and 2,686,128 (collectively, the “Patents”).

Bunzl applied to register WORKHORSE in association with a variety of work and safety-related goods. WPS opposed Bunzl’s application based on a likelihood of confusion with its own WORKHORSE trademark, used and registered in association with parkas and jackets.

Rovi Guides, Inc. (“Rovi”) brought an action alleging Videotron Ltd. (“Videotron”), infringed four of its patents related to interactive TV program guides (“IPGs”) – interactive guides that display TV program schedules: the ‘061, ‘870, ‘344, and ‘629 Patents. The Court ruled in favour of Videotron, finding all four patents obvious.

Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP (Fasken) appealed the decision (2021 TMOB 56) of the Registrar of Trademarks (the Registrar), regarding the section 45 proceedings Fasken had commenced against GENTEC, a partnership consisting of 9011089 Ontario Limited and 2494979 Ontario Limited (Gentec) for their trademark “IQ” (Trademark Registration No. TMA 780,998) (the Mark) with respect to the good “headphones.”

The Plaintiff brought a motion for summary trial under Rules 213 and 216 of the Federal Courts Rules.

This decision concerned a motion seeking leave to permit Unified Business Solutions Group Inc to be represented by personal Defendants Mr. Alaya and Mr. Yones, who are co-founders of the corporation. This motion also contained a second element, which the Federal Court characterized as a motion to set aside the default judgment granted in the underlying trademark infringement action.

This decision concerned an appeal of a patent infringement decision by the Federal Court. The Patent in dispute described a method to modify a process for extracting bitumen from oil sands called steam-assisted gravity drainage (“SAGD”).