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.
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.
Federal Court
The Federal Courts Rules Committee announced a “global review” of the Rules and invited comments on several identified proposals, as well as any other proposals for changes to the Rules by July 2nd. Some of the proposals include updates on electronic service and filing, incorporating elements from the consolidated practice notices, and expand roles of associate judges.
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.
Hughes
The Honourable Roger Hughes has passed away. He was a Federal Court judge from 2005 to 20216 and a leading intellectual property author and lawyer.
Online Harms Act
The government has introduced Bill C-63, the “Online Harms Act” which would among other things establish a Digital Safety Commission and imposes obligations on operators of social media services to make content that sexually victimizes a child or revictimizes a survivor and intimate content communicated without consent inaccessible to persons in Canada in certain circumstances.
AI Inventors
The USPTO has issued guidance on “AI-assisted inventions”. The “Inventorship Guidance for AI-Assisted Inventions” states that, “a natural person must have significantly contributed to each claim in a patent application or patent”. Continue reading AI Inventors
Appointments
Julie L. Blackhawk, General Counsel at the Department of Justice Canada in Ottawa, was appointed a Judge of the Federal Court. Angus G. Grant, Assistant Deputy Chairperson at the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada in Toronto, was appointed a Judge of the Federal Court. Continue reading Appointments
Appointments
Allyson Whyte Nowak, Senior Partner at Norton Rose Fulbright Canada LLP in Toronto was appointed a Judge of the Federal Court. The Honourable Elizabeth Walker and The Honourable Vanessa Rochester, judges of the Federal Court, were appointed judges of the Federal Court of Appeal. Appointments were also made today in Ontario. Continue reading Appointments
PAB
CIPO has published a “Manual of Patent Appeal Board Procedures for Rejected Patent Applications“.