Articles

In November of 2021, the Federal Court was tasked with further defining the scope of patent agent privilege. While amendments to the Patent Act pertaining to patent agent privilege came into force in 2016, the interpretation of this section was only recently discussed by the court in Case Management Judge Trent Horne’s decision in Janssen Inc et al v Sandoz Canada Inc, 2021 FC 1265.

The term the “Metaverse” has recently gained a lot of traction among businesses, with several companies seizing the opportunity to expand their brand in the virtual space. This has included the filing of trademark applications in association with various virtual goods and services. The application of trademark rights to the Metaverse is largely unknown territory, making this an exciting area with the potential for a significant impact on IP law and businesses around the globe.

The market for Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) has exploded over the last year. Although this is an exciting new area for business, it is riddled with potential legal issues that must be properly understood by those who wish to operate in the marketplace. One of these issues pertains to the application of copyright laws to NFTs. Depending on the copyright ownership structure surrounding a given NFT, its use in the course of business may open the door to lawsuits rather than profits.

Earlier this year, Walmart filed an opposition with the US Patent and Trademark Office against Kanye West’s new Yeezy logo. Yeezy LLC’s new trademark application consists of eight symmetrical dotted lines in the shape of a spark. Walmart argues that it will be damaged by the registration of Yeezy’s mark, which was filed in connection with music, clothing, retail store services, streaming of music services, record production, and hotel services. ⁠

Teksavvy Solutions v Bell Inc. provides a novel remedy for copyright owners to deal with copyright infringement: a site-blocking order. In TekSavvy, the Federal Court of Appeal unanimously upheld the Federal Court’s unprecedented interlocutory order that required several Canadian Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to restrict access to several websites because of copyright infringement.