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ARTICLE · 28 JANUARY 2022

Understanding Privilege: Is Your Canadian Patent Agent Also A Lawyer?

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In Canada, there are practising patent agents and trademarks agents who are not lawyers. They are not admitted to any bar of any province or territory in Canada and are not members...

CanadaIntellectual Property
Colleen Spring Zimmerman
Colleen Spring Zimmerman
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In Canada, there are practising patent agents and trademarks agents who are not lawyers. They are not admitted to any bar of any province or territory in Canada and are not members of any law society. The College of Patent Agents & Trademark Agents (CPATA) is the recently created regulator of patent and trademark agents in Canada in respect of their agency practises. CPATA regulates agents who are and who are not lawyers. The relevant issue is the privilege which applies to agents who are not also lawyers and in this instance specifically to patent agents who are not also lawyers.

Much of the intellectual property litigation in Canada takes place before the Federal Court. Prothonotaries, appointed under the Federal Courts Act (s. 12), are judicial officers and exercise many of the powers and functions of Federal Court judges. The recent JANSSEN decision of one of the Prothonotaries of the Federal Court deals with patent agent privilege see JANSSEN Inc. and

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