- Parties: The applicant was Robert Taillefer. The respondents were the Attorney General of Canada and Sylvain Fredette. 

- Subject Matter: Canadian Patent No. 2,690,767 was deemed expired for failure to pay the 10th anniversary maintenance fee on the issued patent. The applicant requested reinstatement of the patent. The Commissioner of Patents denied the applicant’s request. The Commissioner refused to make the determination required to reverse the patent’s deemed expiry since it could not find that the failure to pay the maintenance fee by the prescribed due date had occurred despite the taking of the due care required by the circumstances. The applicant sought judicial review of the Commissioner’s decision. This case involved the application of the due care standard relating to the payment of annual patent maintenance fees. The Patent Act, 1985 introduced this standard in October 2019 to satisfy obligations under the Patent Law Treaty, an agreement administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization. 

- Ruling: The court ruled in the respondents’ favour and dismissed the judicial review application. The court deemed the decision reasonable. The court found no confusion or breach of procedural fairness in the decision. The court did not consider the decision inconsistent or contradictory with paragraphs 166K or 166M(a) of the Patent Cooperation Treaty Receiving Office Guidelines. 

- Date: The hearing was set on Sept. 25, 2023. The court released its decision on Feb. 16, 2024. 

- Venue: This was a federal case before the Federal Court. 

- Amount: The court made no costs order.