2022 was an active year in Canadian patent law. Claim fees were introduced for the first time; changes were made to regulations providing remedies for excessive pricing of patented.
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In Canada, it has long been understood that when it comes to the
construction of claims in a patent litigation matter, only
information provided by the four corners of the
specification was admissible in the court proceeding. This
means that the claims were purposively construed with a mind
willing to understand and based on the teachings of the
description. More than 20 years ago, the highest court in Canada
affirmed that allowing extrinsic evidence, in the form of
admissions made during the prosecution of the Canadian patent
In a recent decision,
Flatwork Technologies LLC v Brierley (2020 FC 997), the Federal Court granted summary judgment in favour of the Plaintiff, Flatwork Technologies, LLC (
Flatwork), in respect of its patent impeachment action.
A motion for summary judgment is a streamlined and expeditious procedure whereby a party seeks to have the Court adjudicate some or all of the issues in an action based entirely on a paper record. Unlike a full trial which requires the parties to put forward live witnesses, in a motion for summary judgment all of the evidence is submitted by way of affidavits followed by cross-examinations on those affidavits. A motion for summary judgment may be brought at any time after the defendant has filed a defence but before the time and place for trial have been fixed.