As part of its national Intellectual Property Strategy announcement in 2018, the Canadian government plans on investing $85.3 million over the next five years to help develop, protect and provide access to IP. This is an exciting development for Canada as it seeks to build its knowledge economy. Here we look at some interesting developments that took place in 2018, including the aftermath of the end of the promise doctrine, cannabis legalization, the development of a college of patent and trademark agents and the overhaul of Canada’s industrial design regime.
After the Promise Doctrine
If there was any doubt that the promise doctrine might endure under different auspices post-AstraZeneca, court cases of the past year largely appear to have laid those doubts to rest, although a “promise-lite” case may have emerged.
In Hospira Healthcare Corporation v. Kennedy Trust for Rheumatology Research, 2018 FC 259, Hospira attempted to alter its argument to link the “promise of the patent” to the absence of sound prediction and to insufficiency and overbreadth. The court rejected this import, returning to the Supreme Court of Canada’s assertion that utility is met if a mere “scintilla” of utility that relates to its subject matter is demonstrated.
To read the full article, please visit Canadian Lawyer Magazine InHouse website.