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Canada

COUNTRY : CANADA

CAPITAL : OTAWA

LANGUAGE : ENGLISH & FRENCH

Patent legislation in Canada

• Canada’s legal system is unique as it is a combination of the French Civil Code-Napoleon based system prevalent in Qubec and English precedent based system prevalent in the rest of the country. • Canada is a federal bilingual country having French and English as official languages.

• Patents in Canada are governed by: The Patent Act R.S.C.P - 4. Patents in Canada may be granted by:

• Canadian Intellectual Property Office – CIPO

Basics regarding patentability of inventions in Canada

Inventions may relate to products, processes or industrial applications. Patents are therefore granted to inventions that:

• Are New or Novel

• Involve an inventive step

• Comprise of a process or an Industrial application of the invention. For an Invention to be patentable, it should contain the following:

(i).Novelty: An invention is considered new or novel if it is not included in the state of the art. State of the art consists of all the information available and accessible to the public prior to the date of the patent application.

(ii). Inventive Step: An invention is said to contain an inventive step if for ‘a man skilled in the art it does not yield results in an obvious way from the state of the art’.

(iii). Industrial Application: of the invention would be ‘when the object of the invention may be produced, manufactured or used in any kind of industry including agriculture’

Inventions not patentable in Canada

Inventions pertaining to the following:

• Discoveries, Scientific Theories & Mathematical methods.

• Aesthetic creations.

• Schemes, Rules, Methods for performing mental acts, playing games, doing business as well as Presentation of Information. • Programmes for Computers.

• Inventions contrary to public order & morals.

• Methods of treatment on humans and animals.

• Plant or Animal varieties or Bio processes for the production of plants or animals.

Filing requirements of patents in Canada

Rights of the patentee in Canada

• Patents with a term of 20 yrs.

• Utility patents with a term of 10.

• Patents confer to its holders or his successors an exclusive right to work the invention.

• Patentee may authorise such uses of the patent through a contractual agreement with interested parties.

• He may authorise the working of the patent either by a manufacturer or by an importer.

• Patentee may even assign or licence the pate

Compulsory licences of patents in Canada

Compulsory licenses may be granted when:

1. The government intends to use the patented invention.

• the use of the patented invention may be authorized for such purpose, for such period and on such other terms as the Commissioner considers expedient but the Commissioner shall settle those terms in accordance with the following principles:

(a) the scope and duration of the use shall be limited to the purpose for which the use is authorized;

(b) the use authorized shall be non-exclusive; and

• The Commissioner shall notify the patentee of any use of the patented invention that is authorized under this section.

• An authorization granted herein is not transferable. • Licenses concerning Semi-conductor technology other than a public non-commercial use.

• the applicant has to however establish that

(a) it has made efforts to obtain from the patentee on reasonable commercial terms and conditions the authority to use the patented invention; and

(b) its efforts have not been successful within a reasonable period.

• The above requisite does not apply in cases of national emergency or extreme urgency or where the use for which the authorization is sought is a public non-commercial use.

2. When the use of patents is intended for international humanitarian purposes to address public health problems.