The government has opened a public consultation on 1) client-agent privilege; 2) unauthorized practice before CIPO; 3) clarity of patent ownership information; and 4) requirements of patent demand letters. The consultation is open until April 24th.

The consultation titled “Consultation on increasing legal certainty in intellectual property services and administration” was published yesterday and seeks comments until April 24th.  The consultation paper focuses on:

1. IP Client-agent privilege – This section seeks to define the scope of agent privilege following the decision in 2021 FC 1265 which narrowly read section 16.1 of the Patent Act and the phrase, “relating to the protection of an invention” to exclude “an analysis as to whether a product infringes third party patent rights”
2. Unauthorized Practice – This aspect is directed to measures and penalties to address those who are not agents but represent applicants before CIPO contrary to the CPATA Act.
3. Clarity of patent ownership information – This relates to accuracy and maintenance of ownership information for patents with CIPO.
4. Patent demand letters – Section 76.3 of the Patent Act allows for the regulation of patent demand letters but regulations have not been enacted since this provision was introduced in 2018. The consultation seeks input on the requirements for demand letters, if any.