E-TIPS

In the previous issue of E-TIPS ®, "eBay Fined in France for the Sale of Counterfeit Goods" (Vol 7, No 2, July 16, 2008), it was reported that the Commercial Court of Paris had ordered eBay Inc (eBay) to pay substantial damages for failing to do more in preventing fake goods from being bought and sold through its online service.

Recently, GlaxoSmithKline Inc (GSK) entered into an agreement with South Africa's largest generic drug manufacturer, Aspen Pharmacare Holdings Limited (Aspen). The agreement gives GSK a first right of refusal to sell GSK branded versions of any one of Aspen's 1,200 unpatented drug products in a number of emerging markets outside sub-Saharan Africa and India.

Judge Stanton, of the Federal District Court for the Southern District of New York, has ordered YouTube Inc and YouTube LLC (collectively, YouTube) to disclose to Viacom International Inc (Viacom) all data “concerning each time a video has been viewed on the YouTube website or though embedding on a third-party website”.

A number of IT industry leaders, including Cisco Systems Inc, Google Inc, Hewlett-Packard Co, Motorola Inc, Sun Microsystems Inc, Telefon AB LM Ericsson, and Verizon Communications, have banded together to form a trust with the goal of obtaining cost-effective licenses to patents of interest to its members.

A little-known but authoritative and autonomous body, the Council of the Canadian Academies (Council), has issued a lengthy report (Report) regarding the possible risks of the widespread use of engineered nanomaterials. Entitled Small is Different: A Scientific Perspective on the Regulatory Challenges of the Nanoscale, the Report concludes that "there are inadequate data to inform quantitative risk assessments on current and emerging nanomaterials".

On June 30, 2008 the Commercial Court of Paris (Commercial Court) issued an injunction and ordered eBay Inc (eBay) to pay 38.6 million Euros in damages to SA Louis Vuitton Malletier (Louis Vuitton) for selling fake goods bearing the names of the real, luxury goods manufacturers. eBay petitioned the French Court of Appeals to stay the injunction, but the appeal for the stay was denied on July 11.

Recently, the Office of Patented Medicines and Liaison of Health Canada released its Statistical Report for 2007 (Report) on the administration of the Patented Medicines (Notice of Compliance) Regulations (NOC Regulations) and the data protection provisions (C.0.8.004.1) of the Food and Drug Regulations (F & D Regulations).

On June 26, 2008 McNeil Nutritionals LLC, the makers of Splenda®, a non-calorie sweetener, was granted an injunction prohibiting Heartland Sweeteners LLC from distributing a store brand sweetener product found to have similar packaging. The latter company packages store brand sucralose for five different retail store chains. The US District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania (District Court) had at first refused an injunction, holding that consumers are highly aware of in-store private label products and expect to see them on retail store shelves side by side with branded products. On appeal, however, the 3rd US Circuit Court of Appeals reversed that ruling, finding a likelihood of confusion between two of the products and the branded competitors, and sent the matter back to the District Court to re-evaluate on two points, commenting that the District Court's initial finding would have set a different and lower standard for trade dress cases for store branded products than for branded competitors.

On June 25, 2008, the Government of Canada published the Regulations Amending the Patented Medicines (Notice of Compliance) Regulations in Canada Gazette Part II. The amendments (Amending Regulations) were registered and came into force on June 12, 2008.

As previously reported (see E-TIPS ®, Canadian Government Proposes Major Changes to Food and Drugs Act, Vol 6, No 22, May 7, 2008), Bill C-51 was tabled in the House of Commons on April 8, 2008.

In a recent decision of Justice Hughes, Sarnoff Corporation v Canada (Attorney General) (2008 FC 712), the Federal Court has tempered the harsh effect of past decisions on patent maintenance fees. In this case, a law firm, as a successor agent, paid maintenance fees on behalf of an applicant.

On June 25, 2008, the Government of Canada published the Regulations Amending the Patented Medicines (Notice of Compliance) Regulations in Canada Gazette Part II. The amendments (Amending Regulations) were registered and came into force on June 12, 2008.

The international governing body of the internet, Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), announced that it will expand the domain name suffixes available for Internet addresses. Currently, Internet users are limited to 21 top level domain name suffixes, such as ".com", ".org", or ".info".

Pfizer Inc (Pfizer) and Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd (Ranbaxy) have entered into a patent settlement agreement that will end the majority of the worldwide patent litigation between the companies over the hyperlipidaemic drug atorvastatin (LIPITOR), litigation which has continued since 2003.

On June 20th, 2008, the US House of Representatives approved a Bill amending the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978, putting in place some safeguards to control government eavesdropping, while shielding telecommunication companies from lawsuits. After passage in the House with a 293-129 vote, the Bill was introduced in the Senate on June 26, and is expected to pass by a large margin.

On June 20th, 2008, the US House of Representatives approved a Bill amending the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978, putting in place some safeguards to control government eavesdropping, while shielding telecommunication companies from lawsuits. After passage in the House with a 293-129 vote, the Bill was introduced in the Senate on June 26, and is expected to pass by a large margin.

A court-appointed arbitrator in California has ordered Media Breakaway LLC to pay US $6 million to MySpace for sending spam e-mail to MySpace members.

Global Harmonization of Medical Devices in Canada (PDF) By Lauren R. Lodenquai

On June 12, 2008, the Federal government introduced Bill C-61 proposing significant amendments to the Canadian Copyright Act (Act).

In a recent unanimous decision, Quanta Computer Inc v LG Electronics Inc (No 06-937) (Quanta), the US Supreme Court has limited the rights of patent holders by broadening the doctrine of patent exhaustion to include method patents.