Publications
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Canadian Patent Practice Update: Act Now to Avoid Excess Claim Fees
Excess claim fees on the horizon As reported earlier, the Canadian government published proposed amendments to the Patent Rules on July 3, 2021. A significant component of the proposal is the introduction of excess claim fees on the order of $100 CAD for each claim beyond 20 claims, which will be (…)
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Further Streamlining of Canadian Patent Examination on the Horizon
Canadian Patent Practice has undergone several changes in recent years, in many cases to fulfill the requirements of various international treaties/agreements, including those of the Patent Law Treaty (PLT) and the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA). On July 3, 2021, the Canadian (…)
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Entrepreneurs and Intellectual Property: Avoid These Thirteen Mistakes to Protect Yourself (Part 2 of 3)
In the second entry of this three-part article series, we share with you the next set of intellectual property (IP)–related mistakes (mistakes #6 to #9) that we regularly see with startups. We hope you will find it useful for your business. Please be sure to read our first entry in this series, (…)
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Studios and designers: How to protect the intellectual property of your video games?
Behind every video game, there is intellectual property (IP) which is worth protecting to optimize monetisation of the game. As discussed in Studios and designers: Are you sure that you own the intellectual property rights to your video games, the first step for studios and designers is to make sure (…)
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The Doctrine of File Wrapper Estoppel in Canada: The Court of Appeal Hands Down its Decision
In December 2018, section 53.1 was added to the Patent Act (the “Act”) allowing reference to be made to communications exchanged with the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (“CIPO”) during the prosecution of an application with respect “[...]to the construction of a claim.” This concept is more (…)
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Ho-Ho Holiday Themed Patents
At Lavery, we spend a lot of time searching patent databases on behalf of our clients. Occasionally, we come across certain patents/applications whose cleverness and creativity make a lasting impression. At this time of year, our attention is naturally drawn to those that are holiday themed. And (…)
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Canadian Patents: What to Keep in Mind One Year After the Coming into Force of the New Rules?
The first anniversary of the entry into force of the new Canadian Patent Rules, which significantly changed certain practices surrounding the filing and prosecution of patent applications in Canada, is an opportunity to look back at the major changes that have had a significant impact on Canadian (…)
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Federal Court clarifies the assessment of patent-eligible subject matter in Canada
In Yves Choueifaty v. Attorney General of Canada1, the Federal Court of Canada has issued a significant decision concerning the assessment of patent-eligible subject matter, including the approach to be used for such assessment during the examination of Canadian patent applications. Historical (…)
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Intellectual Property: New Options for Patent Ownership Disputes
Since 1995, the Federal Court of Canada has refused to hear questions relating solely to patent ownership. In Lawther v. 424470 B.C. Ltd.1 the Federal Court declined jurisdiction, stating that “[t]his Court has no jurisdiction to entertain a dispute which is solely a matter of contract”, thereby (…)
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Natural Products and Pharmaceutical Innovations: What are the Patent Options?
Natural products play an important role in pharmaceutical innovation. They are active components in many medicines. For example, nearly half of the small molecules used to treat cancer are natural products or directly derived from natural products.1 They are also components of vaccines. The (…)
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Estoppel based on patent prosecution history in Canada: The Pandora’s box is opened
Nearly twenty years ago, the Supreme Court of Canada1 rejected the theory of estoppel based on a patent’s prosecution history, more commonly known as "file wrapper estoppel"2). At the time, Justice Binnie wrote, “[…]purposive construction, which keeps the focus on the language of the claims, seems (…)
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Changes to the Canadian Patent Rules came into force on October 30th 2019
The new Patent Rules, as well as certain amendments to the Patent Act, came into force on October 30, 2019. These changes implement the Patent Law Treaty and reduce the risk to applicants of a loss of rights but also bring about practice changes worthy of mention. Canadian national phase of a PCT (…)
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Ready, set go! Changes to Canadian patent practice coming into force later this year
The Government of Canada has just announced that the new Patent Rules, as well as certain amendments to the Patent Act, will come into force on October 30, 2019. These changes implement the Patent Law Treaty and reduce the risk of a loss of rights to Applicants but also bring about practice changes (…)