The Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) has changed its
practice with respect to extensions of time to respond to an
examiner’s report during examination, with the stated goal of
reducing the time it takes for an application to proceed to
registration. Pursuant to an updated Practice Notice, published
January 17, 2020, entitled “Extensions of time in Examination
and to respond to a section 44.1 notice”, CIPO will generally
only grant an extension of time where there are exceptional
circumstances justifying the extension.
CIPO’s prior practice had been to grant one six-month
extension of time, essentially as a matter of course, and
regardless of the nature of the objection raised (the
“guaranteed extension”). In other words, if needed, an
applicant would have up to 12 months (including the initial
six-month response period and the six-month extension) to respond
to an examiner’s report. Further six-month extensions were
available only with the demonstration
