E-TIPS

If your digital photographs look too professional, you may have a challenge in getting them printed by some photofinishers. Digital cameras and photo-editing software allow amateurs to produce more professional-looking pictures. However, digital photography has also made it easier to make unauthorized copies of professional photos.

US Congress is considering more protection for the high-tech industry from so-called "patent trolls" who buy patent rights cheaply, often with no expectation of practicing the patent, but hoping to later sue an alleged infringer if and when a possible infringement arises. A bill recently introduced in the House of Representatives (HR 2795) would raise the threshold for obtaining injunctive relief – an injunction would be stayed pending appeal "upon an affirmative showing that the stay would not result in irreparable harm" to the patent owner and that the "balance of hardships from the stay does not favor the owner of the patent".

In response to the recent Federal Court of Appeal decision in Procureur Général du Canada v Effigi Inc, 2005 CFA 172, the Canadian Trade-marks Office announced on May 19, 2005 that it will immediately change its practice in examining competing applications with reference to issues of entitlement. Contrary to its past practice, the Office will no longer consider the date of first use or making known when determining who should be entitled to registration of a trade-mark. When pending marks are confusing, the application with the earlier filing date or priority date will always be approved for advertisement over the later filed application.

In a recent decision of a single judge of the Federal Court, Trial Division (Apotex Inc v Syntex Pharmaceuticals International Limited, 2005 FC 480), Justice Finckenstein has clarified the scope of section 8 of the Patented Medicines (Notice of Compliance) Regulations (Regulations).

On suspicion of spying on their competition using computer viruses, senior executives of several Israeli firms including YES satellite TV, Pelephone Communications and Cellcom have been arrested, together with 11 private detectives who allegedly infiltrated the computer systems. The Trojan Horse viruses allowed remote control of competitors' computers and the theft of many documents of significant commercial value, later sold to third parties.

In a decision released May 25, 2005, the Information and Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia (Commissioner) held that a store's return policy of requiring customers to provide their name, address, and telephone number complies with BC's Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA).

Tri-Vision International, Canadian patent holder for the V-chip parental control technology, has brought suit in the Federal Court of Canada against retailers Best Buy Co Inc, Best Buy Canada and The Brick for infringement of this technology. The V-chip allows parents to selectively block video signals based on a rating signal included with the video feed.

In four consolidated actions (Napster Litigation) against Napster Inc (Napster) and other parties, including Bertelsmann AG (Bertelsmann) (collectively, Defendants), plaintiffs in the media industry such as Capitol Records Inc have recently scored mixed success in a ruling by Justice Patel in the US District Court for the Northern District of California.

Last week, the Federal Court of Appeal set an important test for disclosing the identities of Internet users accused of civil wrongdoing. The decision in the closely-watched music file-sharing appeal, BMG v John Doe, 2005 FCA 193, will have a far-ranging impact on privacy and freedom of expression, as well as on the continuing copyright reform debate in Canada.

The Ontario Information and Privacy Commissioner (Commissioner) has criticized the federal government's recent attempts to give law enforcement new legal powers to catch criminals in cyberspace, warning that the proposal would allow the state to collect extensive electronic information and intelligence about individuals without appropriate privacy safeguards.

As expected, the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) issued its decision on May 12, 2005, that it will regulate Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services only when they are provided as local telephone service by large, incumbent telephone companies. VoIP start-ups and communications that take place between computers on the Internet will not be regulated.

Most people rely on passwords to prove their identity online. However, in an era in which personal information can be easily stolen through key stroke recording or "phishing" attacks, passwords may no longer be up to the task of providing adequate security.

The recent South Korean announcement of a major advance in stem cell cloning has brought into sharper focus the legal status of such work in several countries.

Charges for sending unsolicited e-mail have been laid against seven individuals and two companies in Massachusetts and two men in Florida under the federal Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act (CAN-SPAM Act) and state anti-spamming legislation. The statistics cited by law enforcement officials indicate the scope of the scourge.

In the US, the conjunction of new regulatory requirements and a recent blockbuster trial judgment have caused much re-thinking of corporate records policies, including the timing of the disposal of e-mail messages.

The Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) has published its annual review of countries' intellectual property rights (IPR) practices and, once again, Canada has been included in the Special 301 Report, named after the legislative provision which requires the annual review.

Concluding years of opposition and appeals proceedings, the European Patent Office (EPO) Technical Board of Appeal (TBA) has decided to uphold Monsanto Co.'s European patent relating to the production of herbicide-tolerant plants (EP 546090).

Bill C-29, An Act to Amend the Patent Act, received Royal Assent on May 5, 2005. The Bill, in part, amends the Canadian Patent Act in response to fallout from the Dutch Industries decision reported previously in E-TIPS® (Vol 2, No 14, December 18, 2003 and Vol 3, No 14, December, 2004).

The US Court of Appeals for the DC District has ruled that the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) lacks legislative authority to regulate TV broadcast signals via copy protection technology known as the "broadcast flag".

On April 27, 2005, US President Bush signed into law the Family Entertainment and Copyright Act of 2005 (S 167 and HR 357) (Act) ensuring that movie-filtering technologies are protected from trade-mark and copyright infringement claims (see E-TIPS® Vol 3, No. 19, March 9, 2005).