Canadian Lawyer InHouse

9 CANADIANLAWYERMAG.COM/INHOUSE SEPTEMBER 2017 A roundup of legal department news and trends SCC says promise doctrine in patent law is 'unsound' T he Supreme Court of Canada has rejected the promise doctrine, which lawyers say will have signifi- cant repercussions for patent law. The case — AstraZeneca Canada Inc. et al. v. Apotex Inc. et al. — pitted two drug companies against each other over a patent. The patent related to the "optically pure salts of esomeprazole," which helps people with issues like gastric acid. In the ruling, the SCC said the promise doctrine is "unsound." "The precedential value [of the decision] is huge. The Supreme Court of Canada de - cisively swept a lot of bad, conflicting case law from lower courts into the legal dustbin of history. We have a lot more certainty now that technical legal attacks on utility of a pat- ent generally cannot invalidate the patent," says Noel Courage, partner at Bereskin & Parr LLP in Toronto. Courage says the ruling is important be- cause it now means that companies looking to invalidate patents, like some who manufac- ture generic drugs, will not be able to do so by arguing that a company that manufactures brand name drugs over-promised its intend- ed uses in its initial patent application. "This is a sensible result, since, in the real world, the patent covers a drug that is clearly very useful and valuable, or else a generic company would not be trying to copy it," he says. Courage says the promise doctrine is now "effectively dead." "All types of patents are a little bit safer to - day. . .," says Courage. "This decision goes a long way toward re- aligning Canada's law on patent utility with other major industrialized nations." The legal battle began after AstraZeneca filed a patent related to the drug, but generic pharmaceutical producer Apotex applied to the federal Minister of Health to be able to sell its generic version. counsel at Deloitte LLP, pointed out that in choosing to mentor and sponsor others it's important to keep inclusion in mind as a guiding point in building and developing teams. "Being executive sponsor of the LGBTQ group for 10 years taught me so much I didn't know and the same is happening with leading the disability network as a typically abled guy. It allows you to be a better leader of people. At the end of the day, you need to find the very best talent and if you're biased to that you will not see the great talent that exists outside of your otherwise blindered view. You don't get that simply by reading about it," he said. "I don't think you can be a leader without being an inclusive leader these days — the talent is too rich. Hang out with people not like you — you have a responsibility to sponsor people who might not otherwise get that opportunity for leadership posi - tions and you will find they are almost al- ways successful." IH Untitled-7 1 2017-08-09 4:15 PM

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