ARTICLES
Explore articles covering Patents, Trademarks, and Designs, including news, insights, and practical information. Use the topic tabs below to explore each area of intellectual property. All content is for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.
Frequently Asked Patent Questions and Answers
The following are frequently asked patent questions and answers. These questions and answers are provided for information purposes only and do not constitute legal patent advice. What is a patent? A patent is a legal monopoly granted by the government to inventors for a certain period of time, in exchange for publicly...
Should You Do a Patent Search Before Filing? Pros, Cons, and When It Makes Sense
What Is a Patent Search? A patent search means looking for existing patents that might affect your invention. This includes: Patents and applications in official databases (like the U.S. Patent Office or European Patent Office) Two Common Types of Searches Novelty Search (Patentability Search): Checks if your invention is new and non‑obvious—two key requirements for getting a...
Pros and Cons For Filing a US Provisional Patent Application
Pros for filing US provisional patent application: Low cost: Provisional patent applications are generally less expensive to prepare and file than non-provisional patent applications. Quicker filing: If time is a factor to file a patent application, Provisional patent applications can be filed faster than non-provisional patent applications, as they require...
2022 FC 923: Benjamin Moore and Co. v. Attorney General of Canada
Benjamin Moore & Co. appealed the decisions made by the Commissioner of Patents on CA 2,695,130 & CA 2,695,146 that the claims for these applications do not comprise patentable subject matter, under section 2 of the Patent Act, as the Commissioner determined the essential elements of each invention constituted a...
Excess Claims Fees and Requests for Continued Prosecution Coming into Force October 3, 2022
Amendments to the Canadian Patent Rules to Introduce Excess Claim Fees and Request for Continued Examination (RCEs) Coming into Force October 3, 2022 Amendments to the Canadian Patent Rules were registered on June 2, 2022. Amendments relating to sequence listings come into force on July 1, 2022 while all other rule...
Frequently Asked Trademark Questions & Answers
The following are frequently asked trademark questions and answers. These questions and answers are provided for information purposes only and do not constitute legal trademark advice. What is a trademark? A trademark is a symbol, word, scent, sound or phrase that is used to identify and distinguish the goods or services of...
Amendments to the Canadian Patent Rules to introduce Excess Claims Fees and Requests for Continued Prosecution (RCEs).
Patent Rule amendments were published July 3, 2021 in the Canada Gazette to streamline the patent examination process allowing Canada to implement the patent term adjustment obligation set out in the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA). (For more information and a detailed list of the changes please see the
Being a patent agent is challenging, becoming one is even more!
Being a patent agent is challenging, becoming one is even more! One of our Patent Agents, Peng Li, has compiled statistics regarding the pass rate for the patent agent exams in Canada, China and the U.S.A. Undoubtedly, the Canadian patent agent Examination is the most brutal one. There is a surprisingly...
Tackle the pandemic together with CIPO
Tackle the pandemic together with CIPO In addition to the existing options to expedite examination of patent applications, CIPO just announced a pilot process allowing accelerated examination of patent applications related to COVID-19 under certain conditions. For more information visit: http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/cipointernet-internetopic.nsf/eng/wr04811.html Published by Mr. Peng Li – Registered Canadian Patent Agent
COVID 19 Update
COVID 19 Update In view of COVID 19, the Canadian Intellectual Property Office [Patent Office, Trademark Office, & Industrial Design Office] has again extended due dates until July 20th, 2020 for all matters before CIPO that have a deadline to take action for the period beginning March 16, 2020 and currently...
CUSMA (NFTA-2) comes into force July 1st 2020!
CUSMA (NFTA-2) comes into force July 1st 2020! CUSMA, the Canadian, United States and Mexico Agreement (NFTA-2) comes into force tomorrow, July 1st, 2020! Many IP obligations under CUSMA have been ratified through the new Patent Act, Industrial Design Act and Trademarks Act. More changes that will be made through legislative amendments are, for instance: “collective marks”...
COVID 19 Update
COVID 19 Update In view of COVID 19, the Canadian Intellectual Property Office [Patent Office, Trademark Office, & Industrial Design Office] is extending due dates until May 1, 2020 for all matters before CIPO that have a deadline to take action for the period beginning March 16, 2020 and currently ending...
Canadian Patent Blog: New Patent Rules
Canadian Patent Blog: New Patent Rules The new Patent Rules were recently published and the long awaited amendments to the Canadian Patent Act are scheduled to come into force on October 30, 2019. These changes to the Patent Rules and...
Canadian Trademarks Update: Madrid Protocol, the Singapore Treaty and the Nice Agreement
Canadian Trademarks Update: Madrid Protocol, the Singapore Treaty and the Nice Agreement In accordance with new Canadian trademark laws, today the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) announced that the Madrid Protocol, the Singapore Treaty and the Nice Agreement have now come into force for Canada. These changes give Canadian businesses access...
Canadian Trademarks Update
The new Trademarks Act in Canada comes into effect in 2 weeks, on June 17, 2019. Please see our post of February 22 for an outline of some of the changes. As a reminder, in regards to fees, it is important to note that there will be a separate fee charged...
New Canadian Trademarks Law
The new Canadian Trademarks Act and Rules come into force in Canada on June 17, 2019. The following is a highlight of changes in the law coming into force (CIF). The filing basis for applications has been eliminated. Accordingly there is no longer the need to specify the basis for...
Canadian Trademarks Update
The Canadian Government has recently released the date that the changes to the Trade-Mark Act will be implemented. These changes are expected to come into force on June 17th, 2019. A few of the many changes include: Simplified trademark applications New and pending applications will no longer require a declaration of...
Canadian Patent and Trademarks Update: Bill C-85
On October 29th Bill C-86, purposing changes to the Patents Act and Trade-marks Act, was tabled in the House of Commons. Some of the purposed changes to the Patent Act include: Providing rights to the Governor in Council to regulate standard essential patents (patents related to technology that...
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