The maker of luxury winter coats, Canada Goose, has sued a competitor Goose Country for trademark infringement and passing off. Part of the complaint alleges that the patch used by Goose Country on the arm their coats is confusingly similar to Canada Goose’s.
Read more here.
The federal government has launched a consultation on modernizing the Canadian copyright framework to better address Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the ‘Internet of Things’ (IoT). The consultation paper released by the government makes mention of several points which may have significant impact on the development, use and commercialization of AI by Canadians. Some of these include the use of copyrighted content as inputs for machine learning; the question of whether works produced by, or produced with the assistance of, AI will have copyright protection, and who will be considered the owner and author of those works; as well as specific liability for copyright infringement concerning AI generated works.
The gold tone of the Lindt GOLD BUNNY has been found to have trademark protection by Germany’s federal court. Germany’s federal court put particular emphasis on the fact that market research indicated that 70% of respondents associated the gold tone with the Lindt GOLD BUNNY. Lindt & Spruengli previously unsuccessfully attempted to obtain trademark protection for the shape of such Lindt GOLD BUNNY.
Read more about it here.
The Disney and Pixar movie Inside Out (released in 2015) details the life of a girl named Riley along with five characters that represent five different emotions that influence her behavior (fear, anger, joy, disgust, and sadness). Canadian filmmaker Damon Pourshian has sued Disney, Pixar and other related companies claiming that the idea is actually his. Mr. Pourshian asserts that, while he was a student at Sheridan College in Oakville Ontario in 2000 he wrote a screenplay based on an idea he had in high school, concerning the life of a boy whose behavior is controlled by five personified organs that control his character: a brain, stomach, colon, bladder, and heart. Mr. Pourshian then produced a short film from this screenplay as a 14-minute low-budget production, which was subsequently shown at Sheridan College. His film was also titled Inside Out.
Mr. Pourshian seeks: a declaration that he owns the copyright to the screenplay, production and short film Inside Out, a declaration that the defendants infringed his copyright thorough the production, reproduction, and distribution of their film Inside Out, a permanent injunction, as well as damages.
Mr. Pourshian sued the defendants at the Ontario Superior Court of Justice (ONSC). An initial issue was jurisdiction, and whether any of the defendants had a real and substantial connection to Ontario (therefore giving the ONSC jurisdiction over the dispute). A recent decision (Pourshian v. Walt Disney Company, 2021 ONSC 4840) released by the ONSC found that the majority of the defendants had a real and substantial connection to Ontario, therefore giving the green light for the case to proceed.
The case is a reminder of the importance of copyright protection, and the global protection that it provides (by virtue of the Berne Convention).
More information is available here.
The 2019-2020 Annual Report of the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) is now available.
In 2019−2020, CIPO received more applications for trademarks and industrial designs, but fewer applications for patents and copyrights, compared to the previous year.
On Canada’s first day as a member of the Madrid Protocol, Canada was designated in 96 international trademark applications, the highest single-day total for any member country. By March 31, 2020, Canada had been designated in over 15,527 international trademark applications filed through the Madrid System. As an Office of origin, CIPO received 453 applications for international registrations.
For more details on the Annual Report, read here.
Oyen Wiggs welcomes Nina Rajic and Kevin Wang to the firm. Both Associates have joined the firm after the completion of their articles.
Nina Rajic assists clients with all aspects of identifying, protecting and benefiting from their intellectual property, with a particular emphasis on preparing and prosecuting patent applications in the computer, electrical, physics and mechanical-related fields.
Kevin obtained an Honours Bachelor of Science in Physics and Mathematics with Distinction from the University of Toronto. At law school, Kevin has served as the president of the IP Law Club and represented the Allard team at the 17th Oxford International Intellectual Property Moot. The Allard team entered the final 8 out of a total of 28 participating teams and placed second in the Powell Gilbert Best Written Submission Award.
The European Patent Office (EPO) has updated and expanded their “FIGHTING CORONAVIRUS” information platform. The platform is a free resource which is intended to assist with locating patent references related to the fight against the global COVID-19 pandemic. Technologies such as medicines for treating COVID-19, disinfectant technologies, masks, smartphone apps, etc. can be found on the platform. The platform can be found here.
Read more here.
The Federal Court of Appeal has upheld the first ever website blocking order. In 2019 the Federal Court issued an order for Canadian internet service providers (ISPs) to block websites operating under the name “GoldTV” which offered thousands of traditional TV channels for a nominal fee – infringing on those TV channel providers’ copyrights. This decision could be seen as a new tool for copyright holders to protect their rights or as a blow to net neutrality. The Canadian government is currently consulting on internet legislation and public reaction to this decision could certainly affect whether the new legislation will support stronger net neutrality or stronger copyright protections as the Federal Court of Appeal choose to.
More information on the initial decision can be found here and on the Court of Appeal decision here and here.
Subway has succeeded in a lawsuit against a cannabis dispensary using various trademarks with the word BUDWAY. The court found that BUDWAY was confusingly similar with various trademarks owned by Subway, and in addition to an injection, awarded both $15,000 in damages, and $25,000 in costs.
Read more about the judgement here and the judgment itself here.
Bev Standing, a Canadian voice actor, has sued TikTok for allegedly using recordings of her voice without her consent. TikTok is a social media platform that allows users to post short video clips that can be edited with various video and audio effects. Ms. Standing alleges that one of TikTok’s features, a text-to-speech audio effect, uses her voice. A lawsuit has been filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York alleging breach of copyright on the part of TikTok for using Ms. Standing’s voice in the text-to-speech audio effect without her permission. In the time since the lawsuit was filed, TikTok has changed the voice used in the audio effect to a different voice. The lawsuit is a reminder of the broad protection that copyright provides to a wide variety of works (including the voice).