Federal Court Of Canada Further Extends COVID-19 Suspension Period

• Published date: 04 June 2020
• Author: Mr David Bowden
• Subject Matter: Intellectual Property, Food, Drugs, Healthcare, Life Sciences, Coronavirus (COVID-19), Trademark, Food and Drugs Law, Litigation, Contracts and Force Majeure
• Law Firm: Clark Wilson LLP

Like virtually every person, family, and business around the world, the Federal Court of Canada (the "Court") was forced to suspend its normal operations this year as a result of the global COVID19 pandemic. Following closure of the Court to visitors on March 13, 2020, the Court issued a practice direction and order on March 17, 2020 which suspended most deadlines until April 17, 2020 (the "Suspension Period"), and modified various other elements of Court procedure. The Suspension Period was later extended to May 15, and then further extended to May 29, 2020, by subsequent orders and practice notices. Most recently, on May 29, 2020, the Court further extended this Suspension Period to June 15, 2020.

In spite of this general Suspension Period, the Court has continued operating throughout the pandemic with the help of technological solutions, such as its electronic document filing portal, as well as changes to its standard rules of practice.

Trademark owners, as well as other litigants who need the Court to grant them relief or to enforce their intellectual property rights, continue to have access to the remedies provided by the Court; however, the manner in which parties litigate before the Court has changed - possibly forever. This article explains some of the changes to the way in which litigants will access the Court for the foreseeable future.

Suspension of Timelines

The Court's Suspension Period affects multiple types of timelines for litigation matters. The affected timelines include:

• Orders and Directions of the Court made prior to March 16 2020;
• the Federal Courts Rules; and
• subsection 18.1(2) of the Federal Courts Act (regarding applications for judicial review of decisions of a federal board, commissioner, or tribunal).

A similar Suspension Period has been put in place by the Federal Court of Appeal, the appellate court with the authority to hear appeals from decisions of the Court and from certain federal administrative tribunals, such as the Copyright Board. As a result, the timelines for all such appeals have also been extended to June 15, 2020.

Notably, the Court's Suspension Period does not affect deadlines under the Trademarks Act, including the time for appealing a decision of the Registrar (such as a decision in an opposition or summary non-use cancellation proceeding) to the Court. Instead, this time period has been extended by recurring blanket extensions issued by the Registrar of Trademarks, the most recent of which (at the time...