Illuminating the path in intellectual property law.
The European Court of Justice affirmed an earlier decision of the European Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) in a case where Puma was attempting to gain a European Union (EU) Community Design on its “Puma Creeper Shoe.” On March 6, 2024, the EU Court struck down the validity of Puma’s registered EU design, based on a …
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Similar to other jurisdictions, a patent in Canada is granted for one invention only. Accordingly, in instances where multiple inventions are claimed in a single application, it may be necessary to parse out the inventions and protect them by filing divisional applications. However, care must be taken to avoid potential double patenting issues. The Supreme …
Guidance on using AI to Invent Due to the quick rise of artificial intelligence (AI), most (if not all) of the laws relating to the US patent system were not written with AI in mind. Court precedent and the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) guidelines have taken the place of written law to …
A basic understanding of Intellectual Property (IP) law is essential to managing an Amazon storefront, as IP issues can be a minefield for the uninformed. Amazon sellers must understand the major forms of intellectual property –patents, trademarks, and copyrights–and the common pitfalls associated with each form to avoid infringement allegations, storefront disruptions or closures, and …
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The Supreme Court of Canada recently clarified the role of non-infringing options as well as springboard profits when calculating profits in patent infringement cases. In Nova Chemicals Corp v Dow Chemical Co, 2022 SCC 43 (“Nova”), the Supreme Court reviewed a trial court’s calculation of the profits gained by Nova Chemicals from infringing Dow Chemical’s …
The enactment of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 includes the Unleashing American Innovators Act of 2022 (UAIA), directed toward increasing innovation of small businesses and inventors in America. Congress is using the UAIA to reduce barriers to patent system entry, such as the costs associated with filing and prosecuting patent applications as well as maintaining …
Many companies, including U.S. companies, find manufacturing abroad attractive because of its affordable costs, capacity, and distribution networks. Typically discussions or negotiations with a foreign manufacturer will concern the type of product to be produced, which often involves providing the manufacturer with sufficient detail to enable the manufacturer to provide a proposal. These seemingly harmless …
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The Canadian government has now announced that October 3, 2022, is the date on which significant changes to the Canadian Patent Rules, which we had previously reported, will come into force. The changes will streamline examination procedures by instituting excess claims fees, by instituting a procedure for requesting continued examination, and by introducing conditional notices …
What is a freedom to operate opinion, and why is it important? A freedom to operate opinion (FTO) is a legal opinion from a qualified intellectual property attorney that concludes a proposed commercial product or process may be made, used, sold, or offered for sale without infringing another party’s intellectual property rights. Although there is …
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The Canadian government has provided notice of a number of proposed changes to the Canadian Patent Rules. These particular changes will impact patent Applicants’ costs and may call for different prosecution tactics. As of this writing, the date the proposed changes are to come into force has not officially been announced. However, we expect this …
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