Canadian Intellectual Property Office Consults on Proposed Adjustments to Patent and Trademark Fees

On June 6, 2016, the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) opened consultations on its proposed adjustments to the current trademark and patent fees (see CIPO’s Announcement).  The deadline to submit comments is July 5, 2016.  The proposed adjustments resulted from Canada’s recent amendments to the Trade-marks Act and Patent Act to implement the Patent Law Treaty, Madrid Protocol, Singapore Treaty and Nice Agreement.

According to the consultation document for trademarks, CIPO has proposed to merge the application and registration fees into a new application fee, add fees for each Nice class and increase renewal fees.

According to the consultation document for patents, CIPO has proposed a single, streamlined process for after-allowance amendments: on payment of $400, the applicant may file amendment within 6 months of issue of the Notice of Allowance.  CIPO has also proposed a fee of $200 for correction of “obvious” errors under the amended Patent Act.  Lastly, CIPO noted in a footnote that sequence listings in electronic form will no longer be included in the final fee calculation ($6 per page in excess of 100 pages of specification and drawings).