Marked annually on March 8th International Women's Day (IWD) is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity. Participation is witnessed worldwide as groups come together to celebrate women's achievements and rally for women's equality. This year's campaign theme is 'Choose To Challenge,' as a challenged world is an alert world, and from challenge comes change. In celebration of this day IPIC has introduced its IWD Spotlight Series featuring some of the many incredible women within the IP profession.

Marked annually on March 8th International Women's Day (IWD) is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity. Participation is witnessed worldwide as groups come together to celebrate women's achievements and rally for women's equality. This year's campaign theme is 'Choose To Challenge,' as a challenged world is an alert world, and from challenge comes change. In celebration of this day IPIC has introduced its IWD Spotlight Series featuring some of the many incredible women within the IP profession.

Marked annually on March 8th International Women's Day (IWD) is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity. Participation is witnessed worldwide as groups come together to celebrate women's achievements and rally for women's equality. This year's campaign theme is 'Choose To Challenge,' as a challenged world is an alert world, and from challenge comes change. In celebration of this day IPIC has introduced its IWD Spotlight Series featuring some of the many incredible women within the IP profession.

The relationship between intellectual property law and the protection of Indigenous knowledge and cultural expressions is a complex subject that has been receiving increasing attention over the last few years. This is reflected in, for example, the Federal Government’s 2018 Intellectual Property Strategy which includes initiatives that reflect the needs and interests of Indigenous peoples. IPIC’s Indigenous IP Committee is playing a role in Canada to raise awareness of these challenging issues. We reached out to Paula Clancy, the Chair of the committee, to learn about the work of the committee.

Good news for diagnostics, less so for computer-implemented inventions. On Nov. 3, 2020, the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) released revised guidelines1 and examples2 for the assessment of patentable subject matter in Canada. Released without prior consultation, the guidelines explain how claims to computer-implemented inventions, medical diagnostic methods, and medical “uses” are to be examined in light of recent jurisprudence from the Federal Court of Canada (FCC).

Artificial intelligence (AI) has been the subject of human fascination and awe (and Hollywood movies) for many years. Who can forget the iconic scene in 2001: A Space Odyssey when the intelligent computer HAL 9000 says “I’m sorry Dave, I’m afraid I can’t do that,” and refuses to allow Dave to re-enter the pod bay doors because HAL knows that Dave is planning to disconnect it (him?). AI is busy learning, growing, computing, and in some cases inventing, all while we sleep.

On August 21, 2020, the Federal Court of Canada (FCC) handed down its ruling in the appeal of Yves Choueifaty against the rejection of Canadian Patent Application No. 2,635,393 for a “Method and Systems for Provision of Anti-Benchmark Portfolio” by the Commissioner of Patents. Mr. Choueifaty was the named inventor of a computer implementation of a new method of selecting and weighing investment portfolio assets that minimize risk without impacting returns. During examination, he amended the claims twice to address the Examiner’s and Patent Appeal Board’s finding that the subject matter of the claims fell outside the definition of “invention” in the Patent Act.

The new Canadian Patent Rules came into effect on October 30, 2019 with the intent to make Canada compliant with its international treaty obligations by harmonizing and streamlining the administrative procedures for patents and patent applications. The changes to the Rules have resulted in both patent prosecutors and intellectual property owners adapting and developing new prosecution strategies.

Earlier this year, we provided an overview of the Canada Border Services Agency’s (CBSA) Request for Assistance Program. The program provides an opportunity for owners of registered Canadian trademarks and copyrights to record those rights with the CBSA to prevent importation and distribution of counterfeit goods in Canada. The CBSA identifies shipments of all sizes and regardless of quantities ordered as part of the program. One shipment can play a pivotal role in uncovering information pertaining to larger networks and suppliers in the counterfeit trade.

Indigenous IP, computer-generated artwork and CIPO practice updates -- This year’s IPIC annual conference had it all.

The Federal Court of Appeal’s long-awaited decision on what constitutes trademark “use” in association with services in the Internet age has finally been released. On September 9, the Court of Appeal dismissed Miller Thomson’s appeal and maintained Hilton’s Canadian trademark registration for its WALDORF ASTORIA mark in association with “hotel services”, despite there never having been a “bricks and mortar” Waldorf Astoria hotel anywhere in Canada.

In a few weeks, TikTok’s parent company ByteDance will have to either complete the sale of TikTok’s US operations to an American company (contenders have included Microsoft, Wal-Mart and Oracle, with Oracle the current favourite), or be banned from the U.S. market.