BlackBerry tops the list once again for receiving the most Canadian patents in the past year, obtaining almost twice as many patents as the second place applicant. The others in the top five for 2015 were Qualcomm, Halliburton Energy Services, General Electric and Schlumberger. Approximately 21,000 Canadian patents were granted last year to approximately 9000 applicants. Continue reading Top Patentees
Tag Archives: Canadian Intellectual Property Office
CIPO News
Several items regarding the Canadian Intellectual Property Office:
- CIPO announced it will begin accepting trademark applications using the Nice Classification this fall. This follows proposed regulations last year.
- A practice notice entitled “Examination Practice Respecting Medical Diagnostic Methods” was published today, building on earlier practice notices relating to purposive construction.
- Revised MOPOP chapters were published on filing and completion (Chapter 5), ownership, registration and joint inventors (Chapter 6), examination (Chapter 13), withdrawal, abandonment, reinstatement, lapse and time limits (Chapter 20), and maintenance fees (Chapter 24).
- The 2015 Trademark Agent examination dates were announced.
- As noted last week, Johanne Bélisle has been appointed as CEO of the Canadian Intellectual Property Office.
CIPO
Sylvain Laporte, Commissioner of Patents and Registrar of Trade-marks has been appointed President of the Canadian Space Agency, effective March 9, 2015.
Some IP-related items
- Eli Lilly’s memorandum in the NAFTA arbitration on the ‘promise’ doctrine has been posted.
- Justice Marc Noël was appointed Chief Justice of the Federal Court of Appeal replacing the Honourable Pierre Blais, who retired earlier this year.
- CIPO has announced a consultation on Modernization the IP Community, a report on the regulatory framework for trademark and patent agents prepared with IPIC, AIPPI and FICPI, of which I had a small part on one of the working groups.
- I am attending the AIPLA Annual Meeting this week. Let me know if you are planning on being there as well.
Top Patentees in Canada 2013
BlackBerry tops the list of owners receiving the most Canadian patents during 2013. The others in the top five were Qualcomm, Schlumberger, P&G and LG Electronics. Approximately 23,800 Canadian patents were granted last year to about 9900 applicants.
Patent Volume in 2013
The number of patent applications published in 2013 or that entered national phase in Canada in 2013 was approximately the same as in 2012 at about 34,900 application. Smart & Biggar, Gowlings and BLG top the list of firms by volume of applications.
Agents
The last of a package of amendments to the Patent Rules and Trade-marks Regulations relating to patent and trade-mark agents came into force today. The changes relate to experience requirements, examinations and staying on the register.
IP Treaties
The government has tabled five intellectual property treaties in the House of Commons:
- Protocol Relating to the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks (“Madrid Protocol”),
- Singapore Treaty on the Law of Trademarks (“Singapore”),
- Nice Agreement Concerning the International Classification of Goods and Services for the Purposes of the Registration of Marks (“Nice”),
- Geneva Act of the Hague Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Industrial Designs (“Hague”), and
- the Patent Law Treaty.
Canadian Trademark Firms in 2013
About 50,400 trademark applications were filed in Canada in 2013. Of these, about 20% were filed in-house or without an agent (about the same as in the last couple of years). Gowlings, Smart & Biggar and Bereskin & Parr were the firms that filed the most trademark applications. Check out my list of the 50 firms/agents that filed the most applications in 2013. Continue reading Canadian Trademark Firms in 2013
Examinations
Changes have been made to the Patent Rules and Trade-marks Regulations governing the Patent Agent and Trade-mark Agent exams. The changes include more flexibility for scheduling the exams and requiring all new Trade-Mark Agents to have written the Trade-Mark Agent exam.