The Federal Court has created a new, specialized Chamber of judges to be used for assigning intellectual property and competition law hearings.
The Chamber formalizes the Court’s existing practice of endeavouring to assign judges with relevant IP expertise to preside over IP matters. It is intended to increase transparency and provide greater certainty regarding the manner in which matters are ordinarily assigned.
The Chambers pilot project also includes two other specialized chambers dedicated to Class Actions, and to Maritime and Admiralty law.
The IP and Competition Chamber is the largest of the three, consisting of 24 justices of the Federal Court and accounting for more than half of the 40 current justices. Its membership includes a high degree of overlap with the Class Actions Chamber and a low degree of overlap with the Maritime and Admiralty Chamber.
