Canadian intellectual property law

Older Canadian case law took a strict approach- as found in Compo Co. Ltd v. Blue Crest Music.

However, the Supreme Court of Canada held in Théberge v. Galerie d'Art du Petit Champlain Inc.[3] that Canadian copyright law is primarily utilitarian.

It finds its purpose in promoting the public interest through providing incentives for the creation and dissemination of expressive works.

Patents can be obtained for products, apparatuses, manufacturing processes, chemical compositions, and significant improvements to existing inventions.

Patents may not generally be obtained for scientific principles, abstract theorems, ideas, methods of conducting business, computer programs, and medical treatments.

[8] Trade secrets are a type of intellectual property that consists of certain information, expertise or know-how that has been developed or acquired by firms.

[9] Trade secrets are generally considered to include information set out, contained or embodied in, but not limited to, a formula, pattern, plan, compilation, computer program, method, technique, process, product, device or mechanism; it may be information of any sort; an idea of a scientific nature, or of a literary nature, as long as they grant an economical advantage to the business and improve its value.

[11] While most areas of Canadian intellectual property law are within the purview of Parliament and the Federal government, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in MacDonald v. Vapor Canada Ltd. that civil remedies pertaining to trade secrets fall within the provincial power over property and civil rights.