On October 30, 2019, the new Canadian Patent Act and
Rules will come into force introducing substantive
administrative procedural changes. On October 15, 2019, with only
15 days remaining before these changes come into force, the
Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) has released its
revisions to the Manual of Patent Office Practice (MOPOP),
finally detailing how these changes will be implemented.
The changes permit Canada to implement the Patent Law Treaty,
which aims to harmonize and streamline patent administrative
procedures among national intellectual property offices.
Highlights of the upcoming changes are set out below.
Maintenance Fees
Under the present patent regime, only the Canadian
Agent of Record can pay a maintenance fee on a pending application,
whereas maintenance fees for patents can be paid by any party. In
both cases, if the maintenance fee is not paid by the due date,
there is a predictable 12 month window during which the fee
