Canadian Industrial Designs Office Makes Changes To Better Protect Applicants

On January 16, 2017, the Canadian Industrial Design Office issued six new notices on changes to modernize Office practice on subject matter and streamline examinations. The changes will provide significant advantages to applicants seeking protection of their industrial designs in Canada. Key aspects of these notices are highlighted below and include changes to what can be protected using an industrial design and to examination procedures.

What You Need To Know

• Colour can now be protected as part of a design.
• Computer-generated animated designs, as a sequence of frames, will now be examined as a single design.
• Searches to assess the originality of the industrial design application during examination may be conducted six months from the priority date, rather than six months from the filing date.