In Delnorth Pty Ltd v Dura-Post (Aust) Pty Ltd [2008] FCA 1225, the Federal Court of Australia has found that an “innovative step”, which is required in an “innovation patent”, is a significantly lower hurdle to meet than the “inventive step” requirement for a standard patent. | MORE

DataTreasury Corporation (DataTreasury), a US-based corporation, launched an action against a number of Canadian banks (Banks) in the Federal Court for allegedly infringing its patent rights pertaining to cheque imaging and processing technology. On a preliminary motion to settle the terms of a protective order (Datatreasury Corporation v Royal Bank of CanadaDatatreasury Corporation v Royal Bank of Canada (2008 FC 955)), the Court was faced with balancing the risk of the disclosure of personal information with the requirement that documents relevant to ongoing litigation be produced. | MORE

McMaster University (University) in Hamilton, Ontario received requests under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA) for information relating to clinical trials, including trials suspended for safety concerns, trials involving deaths, trials involving adverse events, and trials involving certain vulnerable subjects. | MORE

In a split decision, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (Court) has upheld a lower court ruling that Monsanto Inc (Monsanto) should be blocked from selling its herbicide-resistant alfalfa seed until federal regulators have completed a full environmental assessment. | MORE

The Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) released its updated 2008 US report (Report) which indicates that so far, 2008 has seen more data breaches than all of 2007. The ITRC found that as of August 22nd, the number of confirmed data breaches in 2008 stood at 449, surpassing 2007’s 446 breaches. To qualify as an ITRC data breach, each breach must include the unauthorized release of personal identifying information that could lead to identity theft. | MORE

On Sunday September 7, 2008, Prime Minister Stephen Harper moved to dissolve Parliament and called a federal general election. As a result, all bills which were not enacted by Parliament have “˜died on the order paper’, including the proposed amendments to the Food and Drugs Act (Bill C-51), the proposed Canada Consumer Product Safety Act (Bill C-52) and proposed amendments to the Copyright Act (Bill C-61). | MORE

A new Centre for Probe Development and Commercialization (Centre) is set to open in Hamilton, Ontario and is believed to be the first of its kind in the world. Having links with McMaster University and the McMaster Nuclear Reactor, the Centre’s goal is to develop commercial applications for molecular imaging technology. | MORE