Where Are All The Patent Re-examinations In Canada?

Re-examination is the only post grant procedure available in the Canadian Patent Office that allows a third party to challenge the validity of a Canadian patent. From its inception in October 1989, up to September 2013, there have been only 79 re-examination requests in Canada. This figure contrasts sharply to the situation in the U.S., where post grant proceedings in the U.S. Patent Office are much more frequent. This article provides some background on the re-examination process in Canada, discusses its limitations and also compares and contrasts re-examination to the other main post-grant procedure for attacking an issued patent in Canada, namely patent impeachment.

Re-examination