E-TIPS

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has issued a call for comments on the topic of broadcasting in new media, that is, the effect on broadcasting of the new digital technologies and platforms. Specifically, the CRTC would like to hear from the public on:

In a summary judgment motion brought by seven recording labels suing music downloaders, Judge Neil Wake of the Arizona District Court in the case of Atlantic Recording Corporation v. Howell found that there is no "making available" right under US copyright law and that the downloading of music by third parties does not constitute "distribution" by the person making those files available.

As of May 12, 2008, the Industrial Design office of the Canadian Intellectual Property Office has eliminated fees for the recordal of documents, except assignments and licences. The fee of $100 per design will still apply for recordal of assignments and licences. The Industrial Design office has indicated that the purpose of the change is to encourage owners of industrial designs to update ownership information.

In the US District Court for the District of Oregon, Payless Shoesource Inc (Payless) was found to infringe Adidas of America Inc's (Adidas) THREE STRIPE trade-mark in the recent decision of Adidas America Inc et al v Payless ShoeSource Inc (No. 01-1655).

Charter Communications Inc (Charter), an ISP and the third largest cable operator in the US, plans to test a web-tracking program in four cities which will track its customers' web browsing, including search terms and URLs visited, and use that information to provide targeted advertising.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors (County) recently passed an ordinance which declares music and video piracy a public nuisance. In doing so, the County was supported by the Recording Industry Association of America and the Motion Picture Association of America. The new ordinance authorizes:

On April 8, 2008, the government introduced a new Bill, C-51, which proposes to make extensive changes to the Food and Drugs Act and other corresponding legislation. The changes would include a complete repeal of all schedules to the Food and Drugs Act (including Schedule “A”, which prohibits all claims to certain serious conditions and diseases), increased recall powers and higher penalties, a tremendous increase in regulation making authority, an apparent removal of the direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising ban, and, less controversially, the wholesale modernization of the drug, device and food approval regime. Given the minority status of the Conservative government, the fact that this bill has only received first reading and has not yet been studied by committees, it is difficult to know whether the changes proposed in Bill C-51 will become law.

We previously reported that eBay Canada Limited and eBay CS Vancouver Inc. (collectively "eBay") were ordered by the Federal Court to disclose contact information and sales volumes of top sellers ("PowerSellers") to the Minister of National Revenue (Minister) (see ETIPS®, "Court Orders E-Bay to Disclose Sellers to Canadian Tax Authority", Vol. 6, No. 8, October 10th, 2007).

In Scotch Whisky Association v. Glenora Distillers International Ltd. (2008 FC 425), Justice Harrington of the Federal Court found that the word "glen" used in association with whisky has become recognized in Canada as designating that the whisky is made in Scotland, and so whisky producers from elsewhere are prohibited from adopting it as a trade-mark.

Recently, the Canadian Government proposed additional amendments to the Patented Medicines (Notice of Compliance) Regulations ("NOC Regulations"). The amendments remove the requirement that a patent submitted for listing on Canada's patent register before June 17, 2006, must be "relevant" to the submission for a notice of compliance ("NOC") to which the patent list relates. A drug company seeking regulatory approval to sell and market a generic drug in Canada must address the patents listed on the patent register for the innovator's version of that drug.

In a recent decision of the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (Litecubes v. Northern Light Productions (GlowProducts) (Fed. Cir. 2008)), the Court of Appeals found that a Canadian company, GlowProducts, infringed a US patent owned by Litecubes, even though the legal title of the product was transferred outside the US.

In United States v. Arnold, No. 06-50581 (9th Cir. 2008), the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals found that US customs officers do not need to have reasonable suspicion to search the files on a person's computer or personal electronic storage device at the border.

The London Agreement (the "Agreement"), designed to reduce the costs associated with translation of European patents, entered into force on May 1, 2008. The 14 states that have implemented the Agreement have agreed to terms that would alleviate the requirement for translation of European patents.

Changes to Schedule "A" to Canada's Food and Drugs Act Come Into Force June 1, 2008 (PDF Format)

On April 29, 2002, the Canadian Registrar of Trade-marks gave notice under section 45(1) of the Trade-marks Act to Scott Paper Limited (Scott Paper) to show use of the registered trade-mark VANITY in the preceding three years, or date of last use and reasons for the absence of use.

The New Zealand Parliament has passed a 61-page amending statute, the Copyright (New Technologies) Amendment Bill (Bill) to modify the Copyright Act in order to address digital technologies issues and to bring it in line with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) treaties.

A Hearing Panel (Panel) of the Patented Medicines Prices Review Board (Board) has departed from its Excessive Price Guidelines (Guidelines) in a case which, according to the Board, raised "important considerations of policy" in the way in which the Board should determine when a medicine is excessively priced.

In a recent article in The New England Journal of Medicine, Dr Kenneth Mandl and Dr Isaac Kohane describe how the entry of large Internet companies, such as Microsoft and Google, into the field of managing patient records online may transform the way doctors and patients manage health information. They raise concerns that so much vital and intensely personal information will be stored in the hands of private companies and shunted back and forth over the Internet, and the difficulties in protecting such information.

The author of the popular Harry Potter series, J K Rowling, unusually for her, made a public appearance, on Monday April 14, 2008 when she took the witness stand in a Manhattan federal courtroom.

Phillip Parker, a professor of management science at INSEAD, claims to be "the most published author in the history of the planet" by writing more than 200,000 books. This feat may be unique because the books are compilations of publicly available information gathered from the Internet.