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ARTICLE · 15 JULY 2019

Third Party Rights Coming To Canada To Join New Prior User Rights

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Patent practice in Canada is changing1 as the government aims to ratify its commitment to the Patent Law Treaty. As part of these changes, amendments to the Patent Act and upcoming Patent Rules

CanadaIntellectual Property
Adrian J. Howard
Adrian J. Howard
Zosia Zielinski
Zosia Zielinski
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Patent practice in Canada is changing1 as the government aims to ratify its commitment to the Patent Law Treaty. As part of these changes, amendments to the Patent Act and upcoming Patent Rules, coming into force on October 30, 2019, introduce to the Canadian patent system the concept of third party rights. This appears to permit otherwise would-be infringers to continue to infringe a valid, issued patent with impunity. Below we discuss how the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) describes third party rights, when they arise, and how they may continue even when the patent is in force. Patent owners should be vigilant to ensure the window for third party patent rights never opens.

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