The Top Line
Insights on the latest legal news and developments from our expert lawyers,
with a handy top-line summary for busy people like you.
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The High Cost of Fashion Dupes: Trademark and Design Infringement and a View from the North
Lululemon Athletica recently filed a lawsuit against Costco Wholesale in the US, alleging extensive intellectual property infringement involving trademarks, trade dress, and design patents. The complaint accuses Costco of selling lower-priced “dupe” apparel that closely imitates Lululemon’s distinctive SCUBA® hoodies, DEFINE® jackets, and ABC® pants, thereby misappropriating protected visual designs and brand identifiers. As “dupes”…
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Canadian Patent Appeal Board says AI Cannot be an Inventor
The Patent Appeal Board in Canada issued a landmark decision, holding that an AI system is not a valid “inventor” under Canadian patent law. In the result, the patent filed by computer scientist Stephen Thaler and invented by his AI system named “DABUS”, was rejected for failing to meet the requirements to name a proper…
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Anticipation Through Incorporation by Reference Legally Permissible
The Top Line In Alexion Pharmaceuticals v Amgen, the Federal Court upheld the validity of Alexion’s eculizumab patent (CA810), rejecting Amgen’s claims of anticipation and obviousness, and blocking its biosimilar BEKEMV from entering the market. Most notably, the Court clarified that a prior art reference can legally anticipate a patent if it explicitly and precisely…
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Funding Fundamentals: Legal Aspects of Capital Raising
This first post in our Funding Fundamentals series outlines the key legal and strategic considerations for private companies exploring capital-raising options. From bootstrapping and traditional loans to equity financing, SAFEs, convertible notes, and grants, each funding method carries unique risks, benefits, and compliance obligations. Choosing the right model – and documenting it properly – is…
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Can a factual precedent bind another party?
Are prospective generics now collectively limited to one kick at the (in)validity can? And who gets to take the kick? Better hope they’re a good striker. A recent Federal Court decision prevented a generic from a pleading amendment on the basis of a prior finding involving a different party.
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Need funding for IP? Try IPON
If you are an Ontario business and you need funding to develop your intellectual property strategy, you could be eligible for funding from Intellectual Property Ontario (IPON). Our team can help you craft a grant application, as well as providing advice on how to develop your IP Strategy.
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Trademarks Shake-up: Making Sense of Recent Changes to Trademarks Practice
The Top Line A series of amendments to the Trademarks Act and Regulations came into effect on April 1, 2025 that introduce significant changes to proceedings at the Trademarks Opposition Board and Federal Courts. These amendments are intended to improve the efficiency of contested proceedings, to discourage undesirable conduct and abusive enforcement of trademark rights,…
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The AI and Copyright Dilemma: Can machines be authors?
A recent US copyright decision ruled that a generative AI (in this case, a system by Stephen Thaler named the Creative Machine) could not be an “author” for the purpose of copyright law. Fundamentally, copyright authorship can only be attributed to humans. These issues may also soon be decided in Canadian law.
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Thomson Reuters wins an early AI copyright battle for use of headnotes in training of computer models
Thomson Reuters obtained summary judgment against ROSS Intelligence, a legal AI startup that used headnotes from Westlaw to train a “question and answer” search engine for legal research. This win is an early victory in favour of copyright owners against tech firms looking to use data in their AI tools, and may be an indication…
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