Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) Publishes Diagnostics Patent Notice

On June 29, 2015, CIPO publicly released a brief Patent Notice to Examiners regarding examination of medical diagnostic methods (Examination Practice Respecting Medical Diagnostic Methods – PN 2015-02). This Practice Notice provides some long-awaited guidance for Examiners on how to construe diagnostic method claims. CIPO undertook a review of its diagnostics examination practices following the Federal Court of Appeal decision in the business methods patent case Canada v Amazon.com Inc., 2011 FCA 328. Prosecution of some diagnostics applications had been postponed. CIPO intends to give priority to those applications which have been waiting the longest for a response, now that the Patent Notice is in effect.