E-TIPS

On March 1, 2023, the Federal Court of Canada (the Court) issued its decision in Louis Vuitton Malletier v Sheine Reyes Rosales, 2023 FC 217, in which it granted Louis Vuitton Malletier’s and Louis Vuitton Canada, Inc.’s (collectively, Louis Vuitton’s) motion for default judgment, finding that Sheine Reyes Rosales (the Defendant) engaged in activity that infringed the Louis Vuitton’s trademarks, namely, selling counterfeit products bearing the registered Louis Vuitton trademarks (the Marks), which continued despite two cease and desist letters.

On March 1, 2023, the United States Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Drug Evaluations and Research (CDER) released a discussion paper on the application of artificial intelligence (AI) in drug manufacturing (the Paper). The Paper identifies areas of consideration for public input and CDER welcomes feedback from stakeholders to assist in the evaluation and development of policy in the space.

On February 17, 2023, the Federal Court of Canada (the Court) issued its decision in Boehringer Ingelheim (Canada) Ltd. et al. v Sandoz Canada Inc., 2023 FC 241, in which it held that defendants may counterclaim as of right against non-asserted patent claims in actions commenced under section 6(1) of the Patented Medicines (Notice of Compliance) Regulations (the Regulations).

On January 30, 2023, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC) announced that it had provided the Joint Chairs of the Special Joint Committee on the Declaration of Emergency with a brief (the Brief), which outlines the key principles for government institutions to follow during an emergency to ensure that privacy rights are respected.

On February 7, 2023, the Alberta Court of Appeal (the Court) issued its decision in Setoguchi v Uber BV, 2023 ABCA 45, upholding the lower court’s dismissal of a class certification motion for a data breach that impacted personal information collected by Uber.

On February 3, 2023, the England and Wales Court of Appeal (the Court) released its decision in Tulip Trading Limited (A Seychelles Company) v Bitcoin Association For BSV & Ors [2023] EWCA Civ 83, finding a serious issue to be tried on the question of whether bitcoin developers may owe fiduciary duties or duties in tort to cryptocurrency owners.

On February 8, 2023, in Hermès International, et al. v Rothschild, S.D.N.Y., No. 1:22-cv-00384, a nine-person jury in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York found Mason Rothschild liable to Hermès International and Hermès of Paris, Inc. (collectively, Hermès) for trademark infringement, trademark dilution, and cybersquatting, awarding $133,000 in total damages. This constitutes the first decision considering the nexus of intellectual property law and non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

On February 8, 2023, the Federal Court of Canada (the Court) issued its decision in Cheung’s Bakery Products Ltd. v Easywin Ltd., 2023 FC 190, in which it expunged two Chinese character trademark registrations owned by Easywin Ltd. (Easywin) on the basis of confusion with prior trademark registrations and bad faith.

On February 2, 2023, Ontario’s Ministry of Health (the Ministry) released its new health care plan, entitled Your Health: A Plan for Connected and Convenient Care (the Plan). As part of the Plan, the Ministry intends to replace fax machines with digital communication alternatives at all Ontario health care providers within the next five years.

On February 7, 2023, the Federal Court of Canada (the Court) issued its decision in Master Saddles Inc v Moffat & Co, 2023 FC 179, in which it partially granted Master Saddles Inc.’s (Masters Saddles) appeal of a section 45 decision of the Trademarks Opposition Board (the Board).

On January 26, 2023, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC) announced the results of its recent investigation into Home Depot of Canada Inc. (Home Depot), finding that Home Depot forwarded customer information to Meta without customers’ knowledge or consent.

On January 23, 2023, the Federal Court of Canada (the Court) issued its decision in Ecolab USA Inc v Smart & Biggar, 2023 FC 101, granting Ecolab USA Inc.’s (the Applicant’s) appeal and overturning the Trademarks Opposition Board’s (the Board’s) decision to expunge the trademark NAVIGATOR (the Mark).

On January 13, 2023, the Government of Canada announced the launch of Canada’s National Quantum Strategy (NQS). The NQS aims to further strengthen Canada’s existing global leadership in quantum research and grow the country’s quantum technologies, companies, and talent.

On January 10, 2023, the Federal Court of Appeal of Canada (FCA) issued its decision in Puma SE v Caterpillar Inc., 2023 FCA 4, in which it affirmed the decision of the Federal Court (FC) allowing an appeal from a decision of the Trademarks Opposition Board (the Board), and refusing an application by Puma SE (Puma) to register “procat”.

In the movie Groundhog Day, a news reporter who is sent to cover the appearance of a famous groundhog which legend says forecasts whether there will be an early Spring depending on whether or not it sees its shadow on February 2, experiences the same day, Groundhog Day, over and over again. The examination of trademark applications in Canada is a bit like the movie, it seems.

On January 5, 2023, the Federal Court of Canada (the Court) in Janssen Inc. v Canada ( Attorney General, 2023 FC 7 found that the Office of Submissions and Intellectual Property (the OSIP) reasonably interpreted Janssen Inc.’s (Janssen) request to reassess the data protection eligibility of Janssen’s nasal spray drug and did not read into the Food and Drug Regulations (the Regulations) a pre-Notice of Compliance (NOC) timing requirement for assessing data protection eligibility.

On January 4, 2023, the Federal Court of Canada (the Court) issued its decision in GNR Travel Centre Ltd v CWI, Inc, 2023 FC 2, dismissing two appeals in consolidated proceedings and affirming the Trademarks Opposition Board’s (the Board) decision. The Court confirmed that a retailer’s trademark permanently affixed to goods manufactured by a third party constitutes “use” of the retailer’s trademark on the goods within the meaning of the Trademarks Act (the Act).

On December 21, 2022, BetMGM, a sports betting company, announced that its customers’ personal information had been obtained in an unauthorized manner. In its “Notice Regarding Patron Personal Information”, BetMGM revealed that it learned of the data breach on November 28, 2022 and believes that the breach occurred in May 2022.

Thank you for your readership over the last year and welcome to what we hope will be an exciting 2023!  In this year’s first issue of the E-TIPS® Newsletter, we will recap our most noteworthy reports from 2022, covering developments in intellectual property (IP) and information technology (IT) law under the following categories: (1) “Supreme Court of Canada Matters”, (2) “Legislative, Treaty and Policy Developments”, (3) “Patents and Industrial Designs”, (4) “Trademarks”, (5) “Copyright”, (6) “Privacy and Cybersecurity”, and (7) “Legal Developments in Emerging Technology Around the World”.

On November 17, 2022, an Order in Council, was published to fix December 30, 2022 as the day on which Division 16 of Part 5 of the Budget Implementation Act (the Act) comes into force. This will amend the Copyright Act, extending the term of copyright protection in literary, dramatic, musical, artistic works and certain works of joint authorship and posthumous works to 70 years after the life of the author, as previously reported by the E-TIPS® Newsletter here.