Significant Changes Are On The Horizon For Canadian Patent Prosecution

On December 16, 2014, Bill C-43 received Royal Assent. The legislation included long-awaited amendments to Canada's Patent Act to implement obligations under the Patent Law Treaty (PLT). Many of the practical details of how these changes were to be implemented were left to the then-unwritten changes to the Patent Rules.

Draft changes to the Patent Rules (the new rules) to implement the PLT were circulated for consultation in 2017, and a revised rule package was published in Canada Gazette, Part 1 in late 2018. The new rules will be published in the Canada Gazette, Part 2 on July 10, 2019. This is a procedural requirement for coming into force. However, unofficial indications are that any further changes will be minor ones. Implementation will occur on October 30, 2019.