Dimock Stratton LLP

Mark B. Eisen speaking at University of Toronto

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST

Mark B. Eisen will be speaking at the University of Toronto Annual Technology and Intellectual Property Speaker Series taking place the first week of March. Mark is scheduled to speak March 2nd on Business Method Patents.

Dimock Stratton congratulates the winners of the second annual Fox IP Moot

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST

Dimock Stratton LLP congratulates all participants and the award winners of the second annual Harold G. Fox Moot, which was held on February 19-20, 2010:

Harold G. Fox Cup for the best mooting team: Alain Laplume and Victoria Au of Queen's University
Donald F. Sim Award for the best oral advocate: Michael Bokhaut, University of Alberta
Gordon F. Henderson Award for the best factum writers: Alexander Gloor and Nathan Fan of Osgoode Hall Law School

The Harold G. Fox Moot was co-founded by the University of Windsor and Dimock Stratton LLP, title sponsor. Named in honour of one of Canada's leading intellectual property scholars, the moot promotes education in the intellectual property field. The moot drew participants from law schools across Canada, and was held at the Federal Court in Toronto. Respected jurists from the Supreme Court of Canada, the Federal Courts, the Ontario Court of Appeal and the Ontario Superior Court, as well as lawyers from the IP bar, graciously volunteered their time as panelists.

Dimock Stratton would also like to thank the sponsors as well as the volunteers and organizers of the moot for their hard work in making the second year a resounding success.

Harold G. Fox Intellectual Property Moot

Fri, 19 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST

Dimock Stratton is pleased to present the second annual Harold G. Fox Moot for intellectual property law. The first annual event was a rousing success, thanks to the efforts of student volunteers, the Moot Committee, and the panellists.

Dimock Stratton listed as a Tier 1 Firm in MIP's 2010 Survey Results

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST

Dimock Stratton is listed as a Tier 1 firm in both the Canadian Patent Contentious and Trademark Contentious categories of Managing Intellectual Property's 2010 survey of intellectual property firms. The firm also ranked in both the 2010 Patent Prosecution and Trademark Prosecution categories.

MIP presents awards to firms in serveral jurisdictions in recognition of outstanding achievement in intellectual property over the previous year. Winners are selected by MIP's editorial staff and researchers, based on research conducted in seventy-five markets over a period of five months. Last year, Dimock Stratton received MIP's Canadian Patent Contentious Firm of the Year award, and was also ranked as a Tier 1 firm in both the Patent and Trademark Contentious categories.

The firm congratulates all its professional and administrative staff for their work in achieving this repeated recognition.

Ron Dimock receives Best Lawyers' 2010 Toronto IP Lawyer of the Year

Fri, 22 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EST

Ron Dimock has been named the "Toronto Best Lawyers Intellectual Property Lawyer of the Year" for 2010 by Best Lawyers. Only a single lawyer in each specialty and community is honoured with this distinction.

Best Lawyers has been around for over 25 years and conducts yearly confidential peer-review surveys where leading lawyers evaluate their professional peers.

14th Annual Intellectual Property Law - The Year in Review

Thu, 14 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EST

Ronald E. Dimock will be speaking at the Annual Intellectual Property Law -The Year in Review on The Past Year in Patent Law.

Experienced IP practitioners will provide updates and analysis on patents, trade-marks, copyrights, and licensing. For more information, please go to The Law Society of Upper Canada.

Recent and upcoming appearances by DS Lawyers

Tue, 22 Dec 2009 00:00:00 EST

Recent appearances and speaking engagements - Oct to Dec '09

On Oct 2nd Ron Dimock was quoted in The Lawyers Weekly by Christoper Guly for "Debate Rages over Anonymous Blogs" (page 9).

Michal Niemkiewicz wrote "Data Protection in Canada" for the Sept/Oct issue of ABA Landslide commencing on page 45.

Ron Dimock was quoted by Glenn Kauth in the October issue of Canadian Lawyer in the article for "Push and Pull of Copyright Reform" located on page 37.

Mark B. Eisen spoke to the Industrial Design Examiners of CIPO on Oct 29 in Ottawa on "Industrial Design Practice: The Practitioner's Perspective".

Bruce Stratton wrote "Patenting software: still crazy after all these years" for the Nov 20 issue of The Lawyers Weekly Information Technology section (page 10 & 12).

Henry Lue and Sangeetha Punniyamoorthy co-authored "A cross-border comparison of fraud on trade-mark offices" (page 13) for The Lawyers Weekly Intellectual Property Focus section on Nov 27.

Jenna Wilson was quoted in Law Times by Kelly Harris for "Internet's wild west poses challenges for IP lawyers", Dec 7 issue (page 13).

Bruce Stratton was one of three guest speakers at The Toronto Board of Trade discussing "Damage Quanitification in Patent Litigation: Putting the Reasonable in Reasonable royalty rate determinations" presented by Nera Economic Consulting.

Upcoming appearances and speaking engagements - January 2010

Ron Dimock will be sepaking on Patent Updates at the 14th Annual Intellectual Property Law - The Year in Review in Toronto Jan 14.

BC Court orders Rogers to stop "most reliable" ad campaign

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 00:00:00 EST

On November 24, 2009, the British Columbia Supreme Court granted an interlocutory injunction restraining Rogers Communications from advertising its wireless network using the claim that Rogers provides "Canada's Most Reliable Network".

In 2007, Rogers began advertising its network as both Canada's "fastest" and Canada's "most reliable network", based on comparative testing of its HSPA network against its competitors' services, which at the time were based on EVDO technology with similar voice transmission quality, but slower peak data transmission speeds.

In early November 2009, Rogers launched a new ad campaign focusing its claim on "Canada's Most Reliable Network". Many, but not all, Rogers advertisements included a fine-print disclaimer explaining that "most reliable network" referred to call clarity, dropped voice calls, and data session completion rates within the Rogers HSPA footprint, compared to its competitors' EVDO networks. The disclaimer also noted that the Rogers HSPA network was not available in all areas.

Very shortly after the launch of the new Rogers campaign, Telus Communications launched its new HSPA network, and sought an injunction against Rogers for the statements made in its advertisements. Telus argued that the Rogers network is not faster or more reliable than the new Telus network, and that consequently Rogers was in breach of s. 52(1) of the Competition Act, which prohibits the use of making a false or misleading representation to the public for the purposes of promoting a product.

In framing the test for granting an interlocutory injunction, the Court first decided whether there was a triable issue. The issue was framed as whether Rogers' representation is now misleading in a material respect. Even though the representation was based on a comparison that is now irrelevant, most consumers would not understand the fine print. Thus, the impression is that Rogers' network is more reliable than any other network in Canada. From the evidence, it was apparent that the Telus and Rogers networks are now at least equivalent, and the technological advantage that allowed Rogers to claim it had the most reliable network has disappeared.

The Court then considered irreparable harm together with the balance of convenience, stating that whether the issues are treated separately or together, the picture must be viewed as a whole. Both parties would suffer losses that would be extremely difficult to quantify if the other side enjoys ultimate success, amounting to irreparable harm. Given this equality, the strength of Telus' case becomes relevant. Further, because Telus' case is strong, public policy favoured restraining the representation.

The Court would not go so far as to require Rogers to withdraw from public circulation advertising or other materials containing the statement at issue, on the basis that such an order would require court supervision that the Court would be unable to undertake.

Rogers has since appealed the decision and has started a similar lawsuit against BCE in the same Court. On December 15, 2009, Rogers successfully obtained an injunction, forcing BCE to remove its advertisements claiming to be the “most reliable” wireless network. Under the terms of the injunction, BCE was required to start removing its bulk advertisements by December 22 and it must remove all the material by January 22. Interestingly, the injunction does not require BCE to take down its advertisements claiming to be the “largest and fastest” and “best and most powerful”.

Telus Communications Company v. Rogers Communications Inc., 2009 BCSC 1610

prepared by Thomas Kurys

Seminar: Damage Quantification in Patent Litigation

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 00:00:00 EST

Bruce W. Stratton will be one of three guest speakers at the NERA Economic Consulting seminar taking place at The Toronto Board of Trade.

The seminar topic is Damage Quantification in Patent Litigation: Putting the "Reasonable" in Reasonable Royalty Rate Determinations.

New appointments to Federal Court and Federal Court of Appeal

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 00:00:00 EST

The Minister of Justice recently announced the appointment of Justice Eleanor Dawson, previously a judge of the Federal Court, to the Federal Court of Appeal effective 28 December 2009. She will replace Justice Ryer, who retires on that date.

The Minister also announced the appointment of Justice Paul Crampton as a judge of the Federal Court, effective 27 November 2009. His main practice areas prior to his appointment were in competition and foreign investment law, including international and domestic mergers and acquisitions.

3rd Internet Law Conference

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 00:00:00 EST

Bruce W. Stratton will be speaking at the 3rd Internet Law Conference by Federated Press.

Law Alumni Speaker Series

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

Ron Dimock will be speaking to the students of Queen's University and sharing some of his experiences as an IP litigator.