Patent Amendments

The amendments to the Patent Act and Patent Rules will come into force October 30, 2019. Orders in Council will be published in July with the amended Patent Rules and authorization to ratify the Patent Law Treaty.

Order in Council #2019-0916 states (link):

Her Excellency the Governor General in Council, on the recommendation of the Minister of Industry,

(a) pursuant to subsection 142(2) of the Economic Action Plan 2014 Act, No. 2, chapter 39 of the Statutes of Canada, 2014, fixes October 30, 2019 as the day on which sections 114 to 141 of that Act come into force; and

(b) pursuant to subsection 72(2) of the Economic Action Plan 2015 Act, No. 1, chapter 36 of the Statutes of Canada, 2015, fixes October 30, 2019 as the day on which sections 50 to 53, 56 to 62, 64 and 65 of that Act come into force.

The Patent Rules were published in the Canada Gazette Part 1 in November 2018 (link) after a long period of consultation since Patent Law Treaty was first tabled in January 2004 (link). The Patent Act amendments were contained in the Economic Action Plan 2014 No. 2, and Economic Action Plan 2015 Act, No. 1.

As discussed in earlier posts, these amendments overhaul basically all aspects of patent procedures, including filing requirements, the timing of responses to CIPO notices,  abandonment procedures and third party rights, transfers, corrections and examination deadlines.