I tracked the 42,000 or so patent applications in Canada with a 2001 filing date which all expired by the end of 2021. Only about 17% were still enforceable at expiry but about 30% were in force at the 10 year mark. Overall, about 43% of the original applications (about 18,000) were granted and 118 were litigated in the Federal Court. Continue reading Patent Life Cycle
Tag Archives: Canadian Intellectual Property Office
Closures
The Federal Court and CIPO will be closed on Monday, September 19 for Her Late Majesty’s State Funeral. Both the Federal Court and CIPO will also be closed on September 30 for National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. Continue reading Closures
Patentable Subject Matter
As reported yesterday, the government/CIPO has appealed the decision of Benjamin Moore v. AGC, 2022 FC 923 regarding the proper test to determine whether a patent application is directed to computer-implemented patentable subject matter. The Notice of Appeal (pdf) states in part, “The Judge erred by ordering the Commissioner to apply the New Test because it contradicts binding jurisprudence of the Federal Court of Appeal in [Amazon] and [Schlumberger].”
CIPO
CIPO has opened a consultation on proposed fee increases until April 29th. “Based on current projections, CIPO is expected to run out of authority to spend by September 2024. … To address this structural deficit, CIPO is proposing to adjust most of its fees by 25%…”
Agents
AI
The Canadian Intellectual Property Office has registered a copyrighted work listing AI software as a co-author. The work, entitled “SURYAST” lists, “RAGHAV Artificial Intelligence Painting App” as a co-author.
Patents
The hearing of an appeal from the Patent Appeal Board on patentable subject matter in Benjamin Moore & Co. (Re), 2020 CACP 15 has been scheduled for March 30, 2022. IPIC is intervening.
Also, CIPO has announced it will be joining WIPO’s DAS (Digital Access Service) for patent priority documents as of February 1, 2022.
Patent Appeal Board
CIPO has announced it is continuing and expanding its procedure to refer final rejections of patent applications to a single member of the PAB in certain circumstances if the rejection only relates to patentable subject matter (with some exceptions), s27(4) and the Patent Rules. CIPO is working to “increase efficiencies and reduce turnaround times” at the PAB. The 2019-2020 Annual Report identified 71 appeals to the PAB and 41 decisions issued.
Fee Decrease
CIPO has reminded applicants that as of January 1st, many service fees have decreased by 0.2% due to fee adjustments under the Service Fees Act. As a result, the fees listed in Schedules to the Regulations may no longer be current so online resources should be consulted for the current fees. Continue reading Fee Decrease
CIPO
CIPO has announced a new patent national entry request online tool. According to the announcement, one the application is submitted and the fees paid, you will instantly receive a national entry date and Canadian patent application number. Continue reading CIPO