On October 30, 2018, the federal government proposed a number of
important amendments to the Patent Act as part of the proposed
Budget Implementation Act, 2018, No. 2. These changes
follow from the national IP Strategy announced earlier this year to
better protect intellectual property and promote innovation in
Canada.
This bulletin looks at four of the most significant proposed
changes to Canadian patent law: (1) creating a rule of "file
wrapper estoppel" which will hold patentees to statements made
during patent prosecution; (2) creating a regulatory regime for
demand letters based on alleged patent infringement; (3) expanding
the "experimental use" defence to patent infringement;
and (4) expanding prior use rights for businesses who used patented
technology before the filing date of the patent.1
