A recent case from the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit sheds more light on what types of Computer Implemented Inventions might be considered patentable. The patents in this case (Trading Technologies Int., Inc. v. CQG) relate to user interfaces, and in particular to user interfaces designed to facilitate real-time trading. The ’132 and ’304 patents describe and claim a method and system for the electronic trading of stocks, bonds, futures, options and similar products. The patents explain problems that arise when a trader attempts to enter an order at a particular price, but misses the price because the market moved beforeRead More →

The Business Development Bank of Canada, in partnership with the Canadian Intellectual Property Office, launched a new intellectual property simulation game. Players are given the opportunity to choose between two entrepreneurs’ scenarios and work to explore what types of IP they should protect.Read More →

Early in November, the Alberta Government introduced the Diversified Alberta Economy Act (Bill 30) which is intended to drive innovation, diversification and job creation in Alberta (Government announcement here). This initiative created both the Capital Investment Tax Credit (CITC) which is aimed at attracting large capital investments; and the Alberta Investor Tax Credit (AITC) aimed at bringing Alberta investors and small businesses together. The CITC offers a 10 per cent, non-refundable tax credit of up to $5 million to Alberta companies involved in manufacturing and processing infrastructure, as well as tourism. It is to have a budget of $70 million over two years and beRead More →

Claim construction is a hot topic within the patent community at this time, with many practitioners seeking clarity on how to reconcile the Canadian Intellectual Property Office’s (CIPO’s) recent guidelines regarding claim construction, particularly in relation to medical diagnostics and computer implemented inventions, with the law as set down by the Canadian Courts. This Federal Court of Appeal case (ABB v. Hyundai, 2015 FCA 181) appears to affirm the Supreme Court’s position on claim construction, which notes that the Patent Act promotes adherence to the language of the claims read in an informed and purposive way (Free World Trust v. Électro Santé  (2000 SCC 66)).Read More →

The latest case (Samsung Electronics Co. v. Apple Inc.  580 U.S. (2016)) in the ongoing smartphone wars follows an earlier jury finding that Samsung smartphones infringed Apple’s registered designs. The registered designs, known as design patents in the US, cover a rectangular front face with rounded edges and a grid of colorful icons on a black screen. Apple was initially awarded damages of $399 million—Samsung’s entire profit from the sale of its infringing smartphones. The Federal Circuit affirmed the award. This award was based on the U.S. Patent Act which prohibits the manufacture or sale an “article of manufacture” to which a registered design, orRead More →

The Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) was signed by Canada and the European Union on October 30, 2016. The Canadian government has indicated that Canada intends to implement the provisions of CETA by legislation in the near term. The purpose of CETA is to stimulate trade by aligning trade rules and reducing tariffs between the European Union and Canada. As a result, there will be changes to certain areas of intellectual property law relating to patents and trademarks. Pharmaceutical Patents – New pharmaceutical patent laws to be implemented under CETA include patent term extension relating to delays in the regulatory approval process for pharmaceuticalsRead More →

The Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) has recently published the first Intellectual Property Canada Report. The Intellectual Property (IP) Canada Report 2016 discusses trends in the use of IP, both domestically and by Canadian innovators and businesses abroad. This Report relies both on CIPO’s own internal data and on data from the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), which collects data from around the world. Highlights of the Report include that Canadians are increasingly filing patent applications abroad, although Canadian filings by Canadian applicants appear to be stagnating. In contrast, more and more foreign applicants have been seeking protection in Canada for their intellectual property drivingRead More →

A recent decision of the Federal Court serves as a reminder of the importance of promptly registering, in the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (“CIPO”), assignments and other forms of change in ownership of Canadian patents and patent applications. In this case, SALT Canada Inc. applied to the Federal Court for an order that CIPO’s records be varied to change the recorded owner of a patent from John W. Baker to SALT Canada Inc. Section 52 of the Patent Act grants the Federal Court jurisdiction to vary or expunge entries in CIPO’s records relating to the title of patents. Multiple assignments relating to the patent inRead More →

Introduction Until recently, DDR Holdings v. Hotels.com, Fed. Cir. 2014, was the only United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit decision to uphold the validity of computer implemented patent claims since the Supreme Court’s decision in Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank,  S. Ct. 2014. Recently, there have been two further cases which have allowed computer implemented patent claims and so help indicate what might be allowable in the U.S. The current test, outlined in Alice, for establishing whether a computer implemented invention is patentable is as follows: Determine whether the claims at issue are directed to a patent ineligible concept (e.g. an abstractRead More →

The Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) has recently issued guidance (see here) warning clients of various scam letters or emails that are being sent to holders of patent and trademark applications and registrations. This problem is not unique to Canada. Imposters also impersonate other Intellectual Property Offices including the World Intellectual Property Office (WIPO) which processes international (or PCT) patent applications (see here) and the US Patent and Trademark Office (see here). If you receive a suspicious document relating to your Intellectual Property, please contact us to verify whether it is a scam notice.Read More →