As mentioned last week, CIPO waived underpayments on $50 small entity fees which should have been increased under the Service Fee Act. Corresponding Rules Amending the Patent Rules amend s3 and add s139.1 to allow the Commissioner to waive payments of fee differences in certain circumstances, are now available.
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CIPO Waiver
CIPO has issued a practice notice waiving the requirement to pay difference between the amounts paid for certain $50 small entity maintenance fees up to today and the amount actually required as increased by the Service Fee Act because of incorrect information posted by CIPO. Accompanying amendments to the Patent Rules that came into force earlier this week address situations where fees are paid incorrectly as a result of erroneous information provided by the Commissioner of Patents.
AI Inventors
The USPTO has issued guidance on “AI-assisted inventions”. The “Inventorship Guidance for AI-Assisted Inventions” states that, “a natural person must have significantly contributed to each claim in a patent application or patent”. Continue reading AI Inventors
Appointments
Julie L. Blackhawk, General Counsel at the Department of Justice Canada in Ottawa, was appointed a Judge of the Federal Court. Angus G. Grant, Assistant Deputy Chairperson at the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada in Toronto, was appointed a Judge of the Federal Court. Continue reading Appointments
Appointments
Allyson Whyte Nowak, Senior Partner at Norton Rose Fulbright Canada LLP in Toronto was appointed a Judge of the Federal Court. The Honourable Elizabeth Walker and The Honourable Vanessa Rochester, judges of the Federal Court, were appointed judges of the Federal Court of Appeal. Appointments were also made today in Ontario. Continue reading Appointments
Patentees 2023
In 2023, approximately 27,500 patents were granted by the Canadian Patent Office, the most since I’ve been tracking patent stats, and up substantially from a slow year in 2022 when only 18,125 were granted. Boeing was the top recipient of patents in Canada in 2023. The other top recipients were Halliburton Energy Services, Huawei Technologies, 10353744 Canada Ltd. and Qualcomm. See more for the top 20. Continue reading Patentees 2023
Happy New Year
Thank you for another year with IPPractice! Looking back at 2023, I sent out about 490,000 emails to over 2200 subscribers. I included reports on about 150 IP-related court decisions and over 300 new IP proceedings. My most popular post was about the CIPO fee increases that came into force yesterday, January 1, 2024.
National Day for Truth and Reconciliation
In recognition of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on Saturday September 30th, the Federal Court will only hear urgent motions on Monday October 2. The court issued a Notice to the Parties and the Profession noting that, “due to the current wording of the amendments to the Interpretation Act and the definition of holiday in section 2 of the Federal Court Rules, the Federal Court Registry will still be open for filing on Monday, October 2, 2023, via drop-box and E-filing only” and “Litigants are reminded to include Monday, October 2, 2023, in their computation of time.” October 2nd is generally considered a holiday at CIPO.
Appointments
The Honourable Monica Biringer, a Judge of the Tax Court of Canada, was appointed a Judge of the Federal Court of Appeal. Appointments were also made today to Superior Court of Justice of Ontario, Superior Court of Quebec, Court of King’s Bench of Alberta.
CIPO Fee Increases
As posted earlier this month, amendments to the Patent, Trademark and Industrial Design regulations coming into force on January 1, 2024 will adjust most fees by 25%. The amendments were published in today’s Canada Gazette.