Amendments to the Patent Rules were published (link) in the Canada Gazette Part I in preparation for ratification of the Patent Law Treaty. As discussed in earlier posts, these amendments overhaul filing requirements, the timing of responses to CIPO notices and the abandonment procedures. Consultation is open for 30 days. CIPO has indicated that implementation is expected by the end of 2019.
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USMCA
The trade agreement was signed by Canada, the United States and Mexico on Friday and the text of the agreement, including the chapter on Intellectual Property published (link).
USMCA
My latest column for Slaw has been published, on the IP changes included in the US Mexico Canada trade agreement. The agreement is supposed to be signed Friday but reports are that the countries are still in discussions. Continue reading USMCA
Prothonotary
Yesterday, a new Prothonotary was appointed to the Federal Court. Madam Prothonotary Sylvie M. Molgat will be based in Ottawa (link). Continue reading Prothonotary
Trademarks
Amendments to the Trademarks Act and Regulations will come into force on June 17, 2019 implementing the Madrid, Nice and Singapore treaties.
Updates
Several items that may be of interest:
- the data breach reporting requirements of the Breach of Security Safeguards Regulations came into force November 1st;
- the amendments to the Industrial Design Act and Regulations to implement the Hague Agreement are coming into force on November 5th;
- the Competition Bureau has opened consultations on the latest version of the Intellectual Property Enforcement Guidelines.
Downtime
CIPO has announced that “all applications will be inaccessible” from 3pm November 1st to 6am on November 5th. This relates to the upgrades needed to support the Industrial Design Act and Regulations amendments coming into force on November 5th.
Budget Changes
Introduced yesterday, budget bill C-86 includes changes to the Patent Act, Trade-marks Act, Copyright Act, enacts the College of Patent Agents and Trade-mark Agents Act and makes changes for IP licenses in insolvency. Some highlights include a college to regulate agents, reform of the Copyright Board, allows patent file histories to be admissible to rebut claim constructions, add bad faith as a ground of opposition for trademarks, and adds requirements for notices under the notice-and-notice copyright regime.
Music Modernization
NAFTA 2.0
Canada, the US and Mexico announced a new trade agreement and the IP chapter (link) includes changes to patent term adjustment, copyright term, data protection, border enforcement on in-transit, and trade secret enforcement.