2020-09-10
According to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) is one of the world's best patent filing offices. CIPO holds such a prominent reputation for many reasons; one of them is the array of benefits inventors are offered if they file their patents in Canada. Here are some of those benefits.
Substantial Remedies for Patent Infringement
Canada's patent laws offer substantial remedies in the case of patent infringement to the patent owner. Infringement proceedings in Canada allow patent owners the choice to either seek damages from the infringing party or an accounting of the infringer's profit; the latter can be an enormous reward. This is one reason why innovators are choosing patent filing in Canada.
Canadian Patents are Difficult to Attack
Before 2017, patents in Canada were easy to attack and be invalidated if they offered less than what the patent application had promised, despite being useful in other ways. This was called the promise doctrine. However, in a landmark case in June 2017, the Supreme Court of Canada abandoned the promise doctrine, deeming it excessively onerous and counter to the Patent Act. The Court asserted that it was unfair to invalidate patents that were otherwise useful even when the promised use wasn't sufficient. Only a mere scintilla of utility is required for a patent to be considered useful.
More Extensive Patent Protection
The Canadian Intellectual Property Office has lenient rules regarding the claim numbers and dependencies, making it possible to obtain extensive protection for patents compared to many other countries, such as the US. Due to the complicated fee structure for patent claims in the US, applicants are often forced to restrict themselves to no more than 20 total claims and three independent claims, and they have to avoid multiple dependencies. The Canadian patent office has no such restrictions on the number of claims or use of multiple dependent claims.
If the inventor is filing a patent for computer-implemented inventions, the more extensive claim set in the Canadian patent application must be of great interest. Canadian applicants can include all desired claim types like medium claims, method claims, device claims, and system claims.
Cost-Effective Patent Filing Process
Filing patents in Canada comes with cheaper costs compared to other jurisdictions in the US or Europe. The government fees associated with the patent process tend to be significantly less expensive than other countries. For foreign applicant's the exchange rate between the Canadian dollar and other currency can also be an added bonus.
Flexible Examinations
In Canada, patent application examination fees are not required to be paid until four years after the application has been filed. Many patent applicants strategically delay the patent examinations to ease and spread out the costs associated with concurrent prosecutions across various jurisdictions.
Inventors should seriously consider filing their patent applications in Canada to take advantage of the above benefits. A Canadian patent portfolio may be a tremendous bargaining chip in improving licensing and collaboration opportunities with patent owner's competitors. Inventors and businesses can contact Trademarks and Patents Lawyer to file their patents in Canada effectively.
