E-TIPS

In November 2022, the Rome Court of First Instance (the Court) reported its July 19, 2022 decision in Juventus F.C. v Blockeras s.r.l., No. 32072/2022, granting Juventus Football Club s.p.a. (Juventus) a preliminary injunction enjoining Blockeras s.r.l. (Blockeras) from producing, marketing, promoting, or selling its non-fungible tokens (NFTs) bearing Juventus’ trademarks. The preliminary injunction order was recently finalized in lieu of an appeal.

On October 21, 2022, the Federal Court of Canada (the Court) issued its decision in Crocs Canada, Inc. v Double Diamond Distribution Ltd, 2022 FC 1443, finding that Double Diamond Distribution Ltd (Double Diamond) infringed Canadian Industrial Design Number 120939 (939 Design) owned by Crocs Canada, Inc. (Crocs Canada). The Court also dismissed Double Diamond’s counterclaim for invalidity.

On November 1, 2022, the Federal Court of Appeal of Canada (FCA) issued its decision in Janssen Inc. v Apotex Inc., 2022 FCA 184, dismissing the appeals relating to the decision of the Federal Court finding Canadian Patent No. 2,661,422 (the 422 Patent) invalid for obviousness.

On November 2, 2022, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice (the Court) issued its decision in 2788610 Ontario Inc. v Bhagwani, 2022 ONSC 6098, ordering that the interlocutory injunction previously granted by the Court be vacated.

On October 28, 2022, in Clark Wilson LLP v 7299362 Canada Inc., 2022 FC 1478, the Federal Court (the Court) granted an appeal brought by Clark Wilson LLP (the Applicant, acting as trademark agent to Amazon Technologies, Inc.) of a Trademarks Opposition Board (TMOB) decision that upheld the Respondent’s, 7299362 Canada Inc., registration for the trademark ALEXA TRANSLATIONS (the Mark).

On October 28, 2022, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (the OPC) announced that data protection authorities around the world endorsed resolutions on facial recognition technology (FRT) and cybersecurity at the 44th Global Privacy Assembly (GPA) in Istanbul, Türkiye.

On October 21, 2022, the Federal Court of Canada (the Court) in Bell Media Inc. v. John Doe 1, 2022 FC 1432, issued a dynamic site blocking Order requiring Third Party Respondent internet service providers (ISPs) to block or attempt to block access to streaming servers that provide unauthorized streams of Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) World Cup Qatar 2022 matches.

On October 21, 2022, the High Court of the Republic of Singapore (the Court) issued its reasons in Janesh s/o Rajkumar v Unknown Person (“CHEFPIERRE”), [2022] SGHC 264, explaining its decision in May 2022 to grant an injunction to prevent any potential sale of the non-fungible token (NFT) in issue and finding that NFTs are a form of property.

On October 6, 2022, the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (the Commissioner) issued a statement concerning a new report from the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics (the Committee), following its study on the use and impact of facial recognition technology (FRT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI).

On October 6, 2022, the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board (PMPRB) released new draft Guidelines (the Guidelines) to give effect to the July 1, 2022, amendments to the Patented Medicines Regulations (the Regulations). If implemented, the Guidelines will modernize and simplify how the PMPRB monitors and reviews the prices of patented medicines in Canada.

On September 29, 2022, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (the OPC) published the results of its investigation into the 2018 data breach involving Marriott International, Inc. (Marriott), finding many of the hotel giant’s privacy controls inadequate and recommending remedial steps to prevent future breaches.

On September 7, 2022, the Federal Court of Canada (the Court) in Janssen Pharmaceutica N.V. v Apotex Inc., 2022 FC 1262, granted a protective order in the form presented by Apotex Inc. (Apotex) with respect to the exchange of documents and information with Janssen Pharmaceutica (Janssen) during the discovery process.

On October 3, 2022, the United Kingdom’s (UK) Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), Michelle Donelan, announced that the UK Government intends to replace the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) with its own “business and consumer-friendly, British data protection system”.

On October 3, 2022, the United States Supreme Court (the Court) granted certiorari in Gonzalez v. Google LLC, 2 F.4th 871 (9th Cir. 2021), to consider whether section 230(c)(1) of the Communications Decency Act immunizes website operators and other online service providers when they make targeted recommendations of information provided by another information content provider, in this case terrorism-related videos posted on YouTube.

On October 7, 2022, United States (US) President Joe Biden signed an Executive Order setting out the steps that the US will take to implement its commitments under the European Union-US Data Privacy Framework (the EU-US DPF). This comes after the March 2022 announcement that the European Commission and the US reached a new deal in principle on cross-border data flows, as previously reported by the E-TIPS® Newsletter here.

On September 29, 2022, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (the OPC) tabled its 2021-2022 Annual Report to Parliament (the Annual Report) on the Privacy Act and Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA). The Annual Report provides an overview of the work done by the OPC during the last year.

On September 21, 2022, Canada’s privacy regulatory authorities (the Privacy Regulators) passed a resolution to secure public trust in digital health infrastructure (the Resolution). The Resolution calls on governments and health institutions across Canada to cooperate to implement a “modern, secure and interoperable digital health communication infrastructure” in order to phase out the use of unencrypted email and fax communication practices when sharing sensitive personal health information.

The British Columbia Provincial Court (the Court) in Whitehall Entertainment Incorporated v Kafka Pictures Inc, 2022 BCPC 184, recently found the Claimants, Ms. Whitehall and Whitehall Entertainment Inc., had established copyright infringement against the Defendant, Ms. Kaffka, in relation to an independent short film, “Hey, That’s My Bike!” (the Film).

On August 17, 2022, the Federal Court of Canada (the Court) in Bayer Inc. v Sandoz Canada, 2022 FC 1187, granted Sandoz Canada Inc. (Sandoz) leave to amend its Statement of Defence to add new allegations, contingent on an adjournment of the trial and an extension of the 24-month stay under the Patented Medicines (Notice of Compliance) Regulations (the Regulations).

On September 20, 2022, the US District Court for the Northern District of Ohio Eastern Division (the Court) issued its decision in Hayden v 2K Games, Inc., et al., 1:17CV2635, granting in part the Plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment and denying the Defendants’ motion for summary judgment, relating to the depiction of tattoos in NBA 2K video games.