Nassim Nasser is a JD candidate at Osgoode Hall Law School and is taking the Patent Law course.

Microsoft Corporation was, yet again, defeated when the United States Court of Appeal for the Federal Circuit upheld the trial’s court’s decision in favour of the Toronto based software company i4i Limited Partnership (i4i). The dispute between the parties arose when i4i brought a patent infringement action against Microsoft in 2009. At issue was i4i’s invention for editing XML, a computer markup language.

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Posted in Infringement, Patents
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In a recent post Microsoft’s Corporate Vice President and Deputy General Counsel, Horacio Gutierrez, articulated the need for a global patent system calling it “a necessity, if national patent authorities are to overcome the substantial difficulties they face”. With respect to patent applications, such difficulties include, increased number of patent application backlogs, longer pendency periods, increasing cost of patent prosecution, examination inefficiency due to duplication of work by multiple offices, etc.

A patent grants the owner of the patent the sole right to make, use, and/or sell the invention.  By giving these rights and allowing patent owners to profit, patents arguably provide incentives for investing in research and being innovative.

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Posted in Innovation, IP, Patents
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This blog post reports on the report of findings made by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC) against a US-based company called Accusearch, Inc., operating as Abika.com (Abika) for collecting and disclosing data on Canadian residents without their knowledge and consent. This decision is noteworthy since it recognizes the harm done to individuals’ privacy by a third virtual party collecting and selling their personal information. Also, the decision highlights the success of a joint collaboration between the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the OPC.

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Posted in Electronic Databases, Internet, IP, Privacy
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Recently the Federal Court of Australia introduced a fast track IP litigation procedure which makes copyright and trademark litigation faster and more cost effective. Studying the Australian fast track procedure is fruitful because Canada also suffers from expensive and time consuming IP litigation and because similarities between the two legal systems means that following Australian footsteps may be beneficial.

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Posted in Copyright, Trademarks
Comment: 1