- Parties: The appellants were Seismotech Safety Systems Inc. and Seismotech IP Holdings Inc. The respondent was Ecobee Technologies ULC.

- Subject Matter: The appellants filed four actions claiming patent infringement. The appellants allegedly owned four patents relating to smart thermostat technologies widely used in Canada. The respondent was a Canadian manufacturer of an allegedly infringing product. A motion judge of the Federal Court added the respondent as a party defendant to the simplified action in court file T-1147-23 under r. 104(1)(b) of the Federal Courts Rules, SOR/98-106. The motion judge found that the action’s outcome would inevitably affect the respondent’s legal interests. The appellants challenged the motion judge’s order.

- Ruling: The appeal court granted the appeal only in relation to the costs award upon finding that the appeal could not succeed on its merits. The appeal court saw no errors in the motion judge’s reasons. The appeal court did not accept the appellants’ arguments that the motion judge erred by proceeding on the respondent’s motion without any notice being given to the defendants directly affected by it, by relaxing the legal test applicable on r. 104(1)(b) motions, and by misapplying that test in the circumstances of this case.

- Date: The hearing was set on Sept. 12, 2024. The court released its decision on Sept. 12, 2024.

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

- Amount: The appeal court awarded costs to the respondent, which sought costs.