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Intellectual Property Law Research Guide

Intellectual property law is an arising area and it covers copyright, patents, trademarks, industrial design, and other intangible property. Although the focus of this guide is Canadian, some foreign countries, as well as international sources, are mentioned. Before starting to research on IP, it should be kept in mind that IP law falls mostly under the federal jurisdiction in Canada.

Canada				US & Other Countries	Int'l IP	IP Specific Databases
Statutes & Cases	Books & Journals	Web Links	Current Awareness

 

Statutes and Regulations:

The major statutes on IP include but are not limited to:

Copyright Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. C-42.
Patent Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. P-4.
Trade-marks Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. T-13.
Industrial Design Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. I-9.

To browse a more complete list of statutes and regulations:

a. Use Canadian Encyclopedic Digest (CED) (Toronto: Carswell Co., 1973-). Call number: DIG A242: Title 34, Copyright; Title 107, Patents of invention; Title 141 Trade Marks. CED is also electronically available through WestlaweCarswell. Under each title, CED has included the tables of statutes and regulations.

b. Use Consolidated Intellectual Property Statutes and Regulations (Scarborough, Ont.: Carswell, 2006), call number: KF 2979 C65 (on reserve).  

To search statutes and regulations by keywords:

1. WestlaweCarswell >> IP Source >>  Legislation and Related Materials
2. QuickLaw >> Legislation
3. CanLii

Other Internet resources such as CanLII, Justice Canada Web site can also be used to search federal statutes and regulations, and use E-laws for Ontario provincial statutes and regulations.

Cases

To browse cases on IP:

1. The Canadian Abridgement, call no. DIG B35 3ed. Vol. 58, 59: Intellectual property, ( electronically available through WestlaweCarswell)

2. Canadian Statutes Citation, call no. DIG B35 Canada.

3. Annotated acts, for example:

Barrigar, Robert H. Canadian Patent Act annotated, 2nd ed. (Aurora, Ont.: Canada Law Book, 1994-). Call number: KF 3114 C3 B372
Richard, Hugues G. & Carrière, Laurent et al eds. Canadian Copyright Act annotated (Scarborough, Ont.: Carswell, 1993-). Call number: KF 2991.5 C25 1993
Richard, Hugues G. ed. Canadian Trade-marks Act annotated (Don Mills, Ont. : R. Deboo, 1984-).  Call number: KF 3178.4 C35 CUR.
Pinsonneault, Marie. The 1995 annotated Robic-Leger Trade-marks Act (Toronto: Carswell, 1994). Call number: KF 3180 P55 1994.
Tamaro, Normand. The Annotated Copyright Act (Toronto, Ont.: Carswell, 2006).

4. Subject case reporters:

Canadian Patent Reporter. (1941-)
Copyright Board Reports. (1990-1994)

5. Check Federal Court Web site and Supreme Court of Canada Judgments Web site regularly to keep track of recent decisions. Decisions can be browsed chronologically. However, topical guides are not available from those Web sites. 

6. Quicklaw "Copyright & New Media Law Newsletter" - with latest case sumaries.

Use keyword to search cases on IP:

Quicklaw >> Source Directory >> Filter by Country (Canada) and Topics (Intellectual Property Law) >> Cases (include case digests as well).  
WestlaweCarswell >> IP Source >> Cases

 

                                                                                                        Compiled by Sharon Wang
                                                                                                                Last updated on January 29, 2010

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