Canada's COVID-19 Emergency Response Act came into
force on March 25, 2020. Perhaps overlooked amongst emergency
relief, health care and financial effects is Part 12 of the
Act which makes changes to the Patent Act.
Why should the general public care about this? I'm glad you
asked.
These changes create a new power for the Commissioner of Patents
to "...on the application of the Minister of Health, authorize
the Government of Canada and any person specified in the
application to make, construct, use and sell a patented invention
to the extent necessary to respond to the public health
emergency..." and that any such use or sale of that invention
that is in relation to the public health emergency is not an
infringement of the patent. In short, Canadian patents can now
effectively be subject to a compulsory license if the technology
they cover could help in the fight against COVID-19.
