In 2014, Canada's patent law was amended to comply with
Canada's obligation under the Patent Law Treaty (PLT), but
implementation required amending the Patent Rules. The
Patent Rules have now been finalized, and amendments to
both the Patent Act and Rules will come into
force on October 30, 2019 (CIF).
As mentioned in our previous two articles1, this series of articles will cover the
most significant amendments that affect users of the system, and in
the transition to the new regime, will discuss options available to
applicants.
New Mechanism to Withdraw Notice of Allowance
One change expected to be welcomed by applicants is a new
mechanism for amendment after a notice of allowance is sent. Under
the current regime, after a notice of allowance has been mailed and
prior to the payment of the final fee, the only means for making
substantive amendments is to allow the application to go abandoned
by not paying the final fee. Such applications can then be
reinstated
