Small Entity Patent Bill in Force February 1, 2006

The Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) has announced that the small entity remedial provisions of Bill C-29 will come into force on February 1, 2006. Patent owners will have 12 months from that date to make any top-up payments in order to remedy underpaid fees (including payments mistakenly paid at a small entity rate). Case law in Canada had declared that it was impossible to make such top-up payments in the ordinary course, forcing the Government to enact a special regime to allow patent owners to secure their patent protection. Canadian patents can be held invalid for underpaid fees. Full fee history information is now available on the Canadian Patent Database. This will help patent owners to review the fee amounts paid to find out which fees, if any, will need to be topped-up during the 12-month window. An information page on Bill C-29 is available on the CIPO web site at: http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/sc_mrksv/cipo/patents/c-29_intro-e.html The Canadian Patent Database can be searched at: http://patents1.ic.gc.ca/intro-e.html Summary by: Jennifer Jannuska