The firm is proud to support triathlete Patrice Brisindi once again in 2013. After a year of having to slow down the competition due to breast cancer, Patrice resumed training gradually and even more so since January 2013. His training and preparation have already started for the triathlon season  which begin in June with two half-Ironman (in Connecticut on June 2nd and in Mont-Tremblant on June 23rd). These competitions are held in anticipation of the Ironman Lake Placid on July 28th. Patrice is hopeful that the Lake Placid competition will bring him into qualifying for the Ironman World Championships in Hawaii on October 12th, 2013. Before his illness, he had already accomplished this challenge in 2011. The Ironman includes 3.8 km of swimming, 180 km of cycling and a marathon (42,195 km). Good luck Patrice!

ROBIC is pleased to welcome Catherine Bergeron as partner of the firm.

Catherine Bergeron is a lawyer and trade-mark agent. She started her career at ROBIC, completing her first internship in 2000 and her articling in 2001. Catherine has been with the firm’s trade-mark department ever since. Catherine specializes in trade-mark prosecution, litigation and strategic management of trade-marks portfolios. She regularly conducts trade-mark searches to advise clients on the availability of trade-marks in Canada, and is involved in all stages of the process of registering trade-marks, from the development of an optimal filing strategy to the adoption of a policy regarding the use of trade-marks for a better protection of the clients' rights.

Partner Louis-Pierre Gravelle was the moderator of this webinar held by the Intellectual Property Institute of Canada on April 4, 2013.  

Read ROBIC's Special Report

U.S. patent law has been undergoing a historic transition since President Barack Obama signed the America Invents Act (AIA) on September 16, 2011.

Over the past 18 months, various provisions of the new law have come into effect, such as a 15% increase in USPTO (United States Patent and Trademark Office) fees, a wider range of options for intervening with the Examiner in charge of examining a competitor’s patent application, and the implementation of a new acceleration procedure for examination. However, the most significant change to be brought about by the AIA will occur this March 16, when U.S. patent law will switch from a “first to invent” to a “first to file” system.

The patent professionals at ROBIC have prepared a special report, summarizing the potential impact of this transition on Canadian applicants wishing to obtain patent protection for their inventions in the U.S. Apart from the new “first to file” system, our report examines the new mechanisms put in place by the AIA to challenge the validity of an issued U.S. patent. Finally, we analyze the new USPTO fee schedule which will take effect on March 19, and explain the impact of its changes on your patent portfolio.

On November 13, 2012 and February 26, 2013, ROBIC held a half-day intellectual property conference in Montreal and Quebec City.

Lecturers Nicolas Sapp, Catherine Bergeron, Bob Sotiriadis and Laurent Carrière presented more in details the strategic sides to take into account when managing a trademark portfolio. The topics of the day, separated in three blocks, covered the different types of trademarks, reasons to register a trademark, distinctive character and the relation between trademark, industrial design and copyright.