MOPOP Biotechnology Chapter under Review

Chapter 17 of the Canadian Manual of Patent Office Practice (MOPOP), a guide on the procedures and practices relating to the prosecution of patent applications in Canada, has been amended. CIPO is seeking comments and has made the new chapter available for review until January 25, 2008. The current version of chapter 17 deals with sequence listings and micro-organism deposits. It was prepared in 1998 following amendments to the Patent Act and Patent Rules in 1996. The amended chapter is intended to update, consolidate and codify practices in view of jurisprudence, amendments to the Patent Act and Patent Rules, and emerging technologies, and to both update and expand upon the 1998 chapter. It includes a discussion of patentable subject matter, utility, sufficiency, novelty, ingenuity, and claims as they relate to biotechnology. Amendments to the PCT sequence listing regulations that have been incorporated into the Canadian Patent Rules are also reflected in the draft chapter. The new chapter also provides a large number of example claims intended to better clarify Office practice. To review the chapter and to read the Canadian Intellectual Property Office's summary of the changes, see: http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/sc_mrksv/cipo/patents/mopop/mopop_dnld-e.htm Summary by: Clare McCurley