Illuminating the path in intellectual property law.
Health Canada determined that Texas-based LE-VEL BRANDS, LLC (“Le-Vel”), broke the law by selling its weight loss products to Canadians without seeking product licenses for their natural health products. The products had been distributed in Canada for some time, and Health Canada had flagged no health concerns. In deciding to issue a stop-sale order, Health Canada relied upon …
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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 …
Recently, Jennifer Ko Craft (Member, Las Vegas) and John Krieger (Member, Las Vegas) presented at ACC Nevada’s monthly virtual CLE webinar on “The Who, What, Why, and How of NFTs, the Metaverse, and IP.” They discussed the basics of blockchain technology and opportunities in the metaverse as well as enforcement strategies for protecting digital assets. …
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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 Trademark Modernization Act (“TMA”) was signed into law on December 27, 2020. Among other things, the TMA created new procedures for challenging pending applications and registrations and updated several rules relating to the prosecution of trademark applications before the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”). Several of these changes took effect in December …
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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Good News! In 2021, applications filed in Canada went up 13.7%, partly due to Canada’s accession to the Madrid Protocol. When Canada is designated via the Madrid Protocol, the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) will communicate directly with the applicant if a Canadian trademark agent is not appointed. Correspondence from the CIPO, such as office …