By David E. Schwartz, Ottawa
Originally published in February, 2003
If an international patent application discloses a sequence of four or more amino acids or 10 or more nucleotides that is not identified as being in the prior art, then a sequence listing that complies with WIPO Standard ST.25 must be filed in the Canadian national phase.
Paper and computer readable copies of the sequence listing must be filed by the later of 36 months from the earliest priority date or six months after national entry. Unfortunately, the Canadian Patent Rules state that the application is deemed to be abandoned if the sequence listing requirements are not completed by this date.
The Canadian Patent Office often fails to review applications for compliance with formal requirements within the above-mentioned time period. As a result, the first communication received from the Patent Office concerning the sequence listing requirements may be a Notice of Abandonment for failure to file a sequence
