Ordinary Skill

Perspectives on patent law in Canada, mostly

  • Resources
    • Cases
      • The Case of Monopolies (Darcy v Allin) (1601)
      • The Clothworkers of Ipswich Case (1614) Godb R 252, 78 ER 147
    • Statutes
      • Patent Act of 1836 (United States)
      • Patent Act, 1869 (Canada)
      • Patents Act 1852 (United Kingdom)
      • Statute of Monopolies (1623)*
  • May 22, 2024

    Indirectly Lowering the Bar for Induced Infringement

    Infringement, Pharma

    It’s not often that we get four(!) appellate decisions on one specific legal doctrine in less than a year. But here we are with four decisions from the Federal Court of Appeal on inducement of infringement: In all four cases, the patentee was successful in arguing that the defendant indirectly infringed by inducement. This is

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  • Oct 3, 2023

    Did CIPO’s Computer “Problem-Solution Approach” Survive Another Day?

    CIPO, Software, Subject Matter

    Canada (Attorney General) v Benjamin Moore & Co, 2023 FCA 168, was a much-awaited decision of the Federal Court of Appeal that was supposed to address the long-standing détente between the Canadian patent office and the bulk of the patent prosecution bar regarding the eligibility of computer-implemented inventions. Spoiler alert: it did not. There is

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  • May 29, 2023

    An End of the Statute of Monopolies x PMNOC Saga

    Pharma, Validity

    The Supreme Court of Canada recently dismissed Apotex’s leave to appeal its long-running Statute of Monopolies claim against Eli Lilly. The Court’s refusal to grant leave means that, for all intents and purposes, the chapter has closed on this intriguing legal theory.

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