The Rules Amending the Patent Rules that amend s3 and add s139.1 to the Patent Rules to allow the Commissioner to waive payments of fee differences in certain circumstances (see earlier post) have been published in the Canada Gazette, Part II.
Tag Archives: Canadian Intellectual Property Office
CIPO Waiver
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.
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.
PAB
CIPO has published a “Manual of Patent Appeal Board Procedures for Rejected Patent Applications“.
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
Due Care
CIPO has shared a “Due Care Observations” notice that says that many requests for reinstatement on the basis of due care i) do not address the ‘relevant point in time’, ii) refer to ‘unintentionality’ rather than ‘due care’, iii) do not address that ‘all authorized persons must show due care’, and iv) ‘lack information’ on what actions were taken to avoid a failure. The observations also address the situation where an agent remains of record but an annuity service is paying maintenance fees.
PTA
CIPO has an announced a consultation on the determination of additional term if a patent was issued after a threshold date unless, after accounting for days to be subtracted, the net number of relevant days prior to issuance falls below the threshold outlined in the Act. The consultation also considers extension of time for requesting examination, suspension of examination during late payment of maintenance fees and requesting priority and early publication on the same day. The consultation period is open until September 8.
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.
CIPO Fee Increases
Amendments to the Patent Rules, Trademark Regulations, Industrial Design Regulations and Copyright Regulations were registered on June 1st incorporating fee increases of about 25% as well as expanding the definition of ‘small entity’. The amendments appear to be generally inline with the versions published for consultation earlier this year. Most of the amendments come into force on January 1, 2024. Continue reading CIPO Fee Increases
Old Act
Earlier this year, four “Old Act” patents were granted, the first time such patents have been granted since 2014. These recently granted patents have priority dates between 1978 and 1981 so have been in prosecution for over 40 years. Continue reading Old Act