In 2014, Canada’s patent law was amended to implement
Canada’s obligation under the Patent Law Treaty (PLT), but
implementation awaited drafting of amended 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).
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.
Many of the provisions of the PLT are intended to make the law
and procedure more forgiving, e.g. by reducing the minimum
requirements necessary to file a patent application and obtain a
filing date, and by ensuring that whenever some action is missed, a
patent applicant or patentee is given some form of notice and/or an
opportunity to make a correction. An unfortunate effect of
implementing the obligations under the PLT is that many of the
provisions in the Patent Act and Rules
