IP Monitor - Computer Implemented Inventions Promisingly Permitted By PAB

In March 2013, the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) released practice guidelines (Exam Memo PN 2013-02 and PN 2013-03) regarding computer-implemented inventions, following the Federal Court of Appeal decision Canada (Attorney General) v Amazon.com Inc., 2011 FCA 328. The practice guidelines call for the evaluation of the subject-matter patentability of a claim for compliance with section 2 of the Patent Act to be made on the basis of the essential elements as determined through a purposive construction, in accordance with principles enunciated by the Supreme Court in Free World Trust v Électro Santé Inc, 2000 SCC 66.

It has been approximately eight months since the release of the practice guidelines by the CIPO. Based on recent decisions released by the Patent Appeal Board (PAB), a promising trend for inventors has emerged in which claims related to computer-implemented inventions are often found to be compliant with section 2 of the Patent Act.