Trademark Regulations

Proposed amendments to the Trademark Regulations are published in the Canada Gazette for consultation. The proposed amendments would allow cost awards, case management and confidentiality orders before the TMOB, as well as would allow CIPO to indicate that an official mark holder is not a public authority or has ceased to exist. The changes support amendments to the Trademarks Act that are not yet in force.
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Patent Term Adjustment

Proposed amendments to the Patent Rules were published in the Canada Gazette for consultation to implement patent term adjustment by January 2025. Term may be added if the issue date is more than 5 years from the filing/national entry date, or 3 years from requesting examination, whichever is later, particularly time attributable to the patent applicant. Several miscellaneous amendments are also proposed. Continue reading Patent Term Adjustment

Budget

The government released its Budget 2024 that includes some IP related provisions:

  • support for amendments to the Copyright Act to “help achieve interoperability between devices and equipment” and “to allow the circumvention of digital locks to diagnose, maintain, or repair a product”;
  • for the Federal Court, funds to “enhance its capacity to deliver translated decisions” by the federal courts; and consultations on “repealing the residency requirement” for Federal Court judges allow for wider and more diverse pool of applicants;
  • support for various innovation programs including $600m over four years for enhancements to the SR&ED program; money for the Innovation Asset Collective; and allowing “businesses to
    immediately write off the full cost of investments in patents”.

Canadian Intellectual Property