Articles

About Articles The following articles are published by the Information Technology and Intellectual Property Law Law Section of the Ontario Bar Association. Members are encouraged to submit articles. About Articles

Editors: Stephanie Carbone and Summer Lewis

Today
Today
head-shot photo of author Andrew Shaughnessy

Mentorship Corner - Part 1

  • September 27, 2023
  • Andrew Shaughnessy, partner at Torys LLP

In this new series, we ask senior lawyers to provide practice tips for junior lawyers in the OBA IT/ IP Law Section! In Part 1, we asked Andrew Shaughnessy, Partner at Torys LLP, for tips.

Student Forum, Information Technology and Intellectual Property Law

Energizer v Duracell: Comparative Advertising Battery Battle

  • September 26, 2023
  • Shany Raitsin, law student at Lomic Law

In the recent decision Energizer Brands, LLC v Gilette Company, 2023 FC 804, the Federal Court ruled that Duracell’s use of Energizer’s registered trademarks ENERGIZER and ENERGIZER MAX in comparative advertising on its sticker labels depreciated the goodwill in Energizer’s registered trademarks.

Student Forum, Information Technology and Intellectual Property Law

Artificial Intelligence in Western English Fiction – A Quick Take

  • May 02, 2023
  • Sairam Sanathkumar, Aird & Berlis LLP

Authors of science fiction are sometimes unduly credited with predicting giant leaps in sci-tech, but the joy of reading them remains. Technology fiction came to be regarded as a serious literary sub-genre in the mid-20th century. The advent of the earliest computer, Alan Turing’s “Turing Machine,” and advancements in space exploration largely coincided with the works of Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke and Robert Heinlein.

Student Forum, Information Technology and Intellectual Property Law

Get to Know Your Execs in Five Minutes (or less) – Part III

  • May 02, 2023
  • Anastassia Trifonova

In this ongoing series, we will profile each of the members of the OBA IP/ IT Law Section Executive to learn about them in five minutes or less. It’s five minutes or less because we know that a lot of you docket in six-minute increments!

Student Forum, Information Technology and Intellectual Property Law

Recyclability to Patentability: The Coca-Cola Company v. Canada (AG), 2023 FC 424

  • May 02, 2023
  • Jose Garcia-Bonilla

In The Coca-Cola Company v. The Attorney General of Canada, 2023 FC 424, the Coca-Cola Company appealed a decision of the Commissioner of Patents refusing to grant a patent on Canadian Patent No. 2,718,279 on the basis that the claims in the Application were obvious. The Federal Court allowed the appeal in part. It held that the Commissioner erred in its obviousness assessment of one of TCCC’s claims and referred the matter back for redetermination.

Student Forum, Information Technology and Intellectual Property Law

Specialist or Generalist Judges in IP: Is the Jury Still Out?

  • May 02, 2023
  • Andrew Shaughnessy, Torys LLP

On March 2, 2023, the Federal Court announced a pilot program to create 'Chambers' of judges in the areas of: 1) IP/Competition; 2) maritime and admiralty; and 3) class actions. The notice indicated that the Chief Justice will assign IP, competition, and maritime and admiralty matters to members of the Court who have expertise in those areas, with the stated objective of developing expertise within those silos in the Court.

Student Forum, Information Technology and Intellectual Property Law

ChatGPT: The Hottest Toy of 2023

  • May 02, 2023
  • Jennifer R Davidson, partner, Deeth Williams Wall LLP, and Sharan Johal, articling student, Deeth Williams Wall LLP

ChatGPT, developed by Microsoft-backed research lab OpenAI, has occupied the artificial intelligence news stream since its initial launch in December 2022. ChatGPT is a natural language processing generative AI tool that, depending on the model a user can access, can generate text-to-text, or image-to-text, output in a formula which mimics human conversation. The first publicly available tool of its kind, ChatGPT has become one of the fastest-growing consumer applications of all time.

Student Forum, Information Technology and Intellectual Property Law

Don’t Touch That Dial—a cautionary note to patentees

  • March 04, 2023
  • Andrew Shaughnessy, Torys LLP

In Rovi Guides, Inc. v. Bell Canada, 2022 FC 1388, Justice Lafrenière adjudicated a trial involving the infringement and invalidity of four patents relating to interactive television programming guides—the kind of technological features that many of us rely on to enhance our television viewing. However, this decision may have dramatic effects on the prosecution of patents before the patent office.

Student Forum, Information Technology and Intellectual Property Law

Marketing in the Metaverse Facing Regulatory Limbo

  • February 25, 2023
  • Daniel Daniele, Norton Rose Fulbright Canada

The metaverse is an elusive concept, but can be broadly described as a rapidly growing extension of the tendrils of the internet, redefining what constitutes social media. As an ever growing and immersive network of technologies, the metaverse attempts to close the gap between society and the media which serves as its vehicle. As it exists now, the metaverse is a multi-platform virtual ecosystem with an integrated economy that evolves and grows in real time.

Student Forum, Information Technology and Intellectual Property Law

Puma’s “procat” Likely to be Confusing with Caterpillar’s CAT & Triangle Design

  • February 25, 2023
  • Jose Garcia-Bonilla

In Puma SE v. Caterpillar Inc., 2023 FCA 4, the Federal Court of Appeal (“FCA”) declined to set aside the Federal Court’s decision to refuse Puma SE’s (“Puma”) application to register its trademark “procat”. The FCA held that Puma failed to demonstrate any palpable or overriding error in the Federal Court’s analysis that “procat” would be confusing with Caterpillar Inc.’s (“Caterpillar”) CAT & Triangle Design Mark (the “Design Mark”) for use in association with athletic footwear and headgear.

Student Forum, Information Technology and Intellectual Property Law