E-TIPS

On September 19, 2024, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC) issued a Joint Statement on a Common International Approach to Age Assurance (the Joint Statement), joining other global regulators in moving towards a more common international approach to the data protection and privacy implications of age assurance methods.

On September 13, 2024, the Federal Court of Canada (the Court) in Giuseppe De Luca v Geox S.P.A., 2024 FC 1441, dismissed Mr. De Luca’s (the Applicant) application to invalidate Geox S.P.A.’s (the Respondent) trademark AMPHIBIOX.

On September 5, 2024, the Council of Europe (COE) opened for signature the first ever global treaty on artificial intelligence (AI), entitled Council of Europe Framework Convention on Artificial Intelligence and Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law (the Treaty).

On August 14, 2024, the Federal Court of Canada (the Court) released its decision in Molo Design, Ltd. v Chanel Canada ULC, 2024 FC 1260, dismissing Molo Design, Ltd.’s (the Plaintiff) patent infringement action against Chanel Canada ULC, Procédés Chénel SARL, and Chanel SAS (collectively, the Defendants), and granting the Defendants’ counterclaim for patent invalidity in part.

On September 9, 2024, the Federal Court of Appeal of Canada (FCA) in Privacy Commissioner of Canada v. Facebook Inc., 2024 FCA 140, unanimously held that Facebook Inc. (Facebook) breached Canada’s Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) between 2013 and 2015 by failing to obtain meaningful consent from its users and to appropriately safeguard users’ personal information.

On August 15, 2024, the Federal Court of Appeal (the FCA) released its decision in Mud Engineering Inc. v Secure Energy Services Inc., 2024 FCA 131, dismissing Mud Engineering Inc. and An-Ming (Victor) Wu’s (collectively, the Appellants’) appeal from a Federal Court of Canada’s decision denying their motion for a declaration of patent ownership along with their related patent infringement action.

On August 16, 2024, the Court of Appeal for Ontario (the Court) issued its decision in R. v Attard, 2024 ONCA 616, finding that there is no reasonable expectation of privacy in a vehicle’s Event Data Recorder (EDR) data.

On September 9, 2024, in iFit Inc v Safe Sweat Fitness Ltd., 2024 FC 1406, the Federal Court of Canada (the Court) dismissed a motion by iFit Inc. et al. (the Applicants) for an order converting their application into an action.

On August 6, 2024, the Federal Court of Appeal of Canada (the Court) in Rovi Guides, Inc. v Videotron Ltd., 2024 FCA 125, upheld the lower court’s judgement finding that Rovi Guides Inc.’s (Rovi) patents relating to interactive television program guide (IPG) technology were invalid. The Court also reviewed the principles for awarding remedies for patent infringement and commented, in obiter, as to the remedies Rovi would have been entitled to if its patents were found valid and infringed.

On August 19, 2024, the Federal Court of Appeal of Canada (the Court) released its decision in Agracity Crop v Upl Na Inc, 2024 FCA 133, dismissing Agracity Crop & Nutrition Ltd.’s (Agracity) appeal of the lower court’s decision finding that it had infringed Canadian Patent No. 2,346,021 (the 021 Patent).

On August 28, 2024, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC) announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to strengthen mutual assistance and the exchange of information for the purpose of enforcing compliance and sharing expertise with respect to applicable laws.

On August 15, 2024, the Federal Court of Canada (the Court) issued its decision in Smooth Payment Inc. v Klarna Bank Ab, 2024 FC 1274, allowing Smooth Payment Inc.’s (SPI) application in part in its appeal of four summary cancellation decisions made pursuant to section 45 of the Trademarks Act.

On July 26, 2024, JAMP Pharma Corporation (JAMP) filed an application to Canada’s Competition Tribunal (Tribunal) against Janssen Inc. (Janssen) relating to an abuse of dominance allegation with respect to Janssen’s biologic drug Stelara, an ustekinumab drug product for the treatment of certain autoimmune diseases.

On August 2, 2024, David Millette (the Plaintiff) filed, individually and on behalf of a proposed class of YouTube users and video creators, a class action complaint against OpenAI, Inc. and related entities (collectively, OpenAI) in Millette v OpenAI, Inc. et al, 3:24-cv-04710. The Plaintiff’s complaint pertains to the alleged non-consensual transcription of class members’ YouTube videos by OpenAI to train their artificial intelligence (AI) software products.

On July 26, 2024, the Court of King’s Bench of Alberta (the Court) released its decision in Bank of Montreal v 2093924 Ontario Inc, 2024 ABKB 457, finding that the doctrine of patent exhaustion prevented 1643434 Alberta Ltd. (164) from blocking the sale of its former property (the Wash Factory) to a competitor, Klair Group Industries Ltd. (Klair).

On August 6, 2024, in Bureau National Interprofessionnel Du Cognac v Cologne & Cognac Entertainment, Case No. 23-1100, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (the Court) vacated a decision of the United States Patent and Trademark Office Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (the Board). The Board had previously determined that there was no likelihood of confusion between the certification mark COGNAC and a trademark application for a design including the words COLOGNE & COGNAC ENTERTAINMENT Design (the Mark) for hip-hop music and production services.

On July 9, 2024, the Federal Court of Canada (the Court), in Rogers Media Inc. v John Doe 1, 2024 FC 1082, issued a dynamic site blocking Order requiring (i) the unauthorized streaming services (the Unknown Respondents) to cease providing unauthorized streams of National Hockey League (NHL) games, National Basketball Association (NBA) games, and Premier League football matches, and (ii) certain internet service providers (the Third Party Respondents) to block or attempt to block access to streaming servers that provide unauthorized access to these live sporting events.

On July 18, 2024, the Federal Court of Canada (the Court) released its decision in Demirören TV Radyo Yayincilik Yapimcilik A.Ş. v General Entertainment and Music Inc., 2024 FC 1127, finding that one of Türkiye’s largest broadcasters, Demirören TV Radyo Yayincilik Yapimcilik A.Ş. (the Plaintiff), owns copyright in its various episodes of original television programming (the Programs) and that General Entertainment and Music Inc. (the Defendant) infringed its copyright in certain Programs.

On July 19, 2024, the England and Wales Court of Appeal (the Court) released its decision in Comptroller General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks v Emotional Perception AI Ltd, [2024] EWCA Civ 825, finding that a trained artificial neural network (ANN) is unpatentable pursuant to the “program for a computer” subject matter exclusion under section 1(2)(c) of the United Kingdom (UK) Patents Act 1977 (the Act).

On July 23, 2024, the Federal Court of Canada (the Court) issued its decision in Louis Vuitton Malletier S.A. v Torf, 2024 FC 1152, finding certain defendants liable for violations of Canada’s Trademarks Act and Copyright Act deriving from the sale of counterfeit Louis Vuitton merchandise.