Divisional Due Dates For Canadian Industrial Designs

On November 5, 2018, Canada's amended Industrial Design Act and Regulations came into force. Among other things, the new law permits the filing of divisional applications for any design applied to a finished article that was disclosed in the original application on its filing date. Dividing a single application and prosecuting multiple applications to registration can maximize the scope of protection for the applicant. Even designs depicted as environment can form the basis of a divisional application if it is fully disclosed in the original application.

As used herein, the term "original application" refers to the pending application that provides the basis for the divisional application. The original application can also be called the "parent". If the original application is itself a divisional application, the term "earliest original application" refers to the very first in the series of applications from which the divisional application results.