Canadian Intellectual Property Office Releases Practice Notice Detailing Requirements for Record Transfers, Name Changes, Registration of Related Documents for Canadian Patents

On July 3, 2020, the Canadian Intellectual Property Office released a Practice Notice clarifying Patent Office practices with respect to requests to record a transfer under s. 49 of the Patent Act and s. 126 of the Patent Rules, requests to record a change of name under s. 125 of the Patent Rules, and requests to register documents under s. 124 of the Patent Rules.

Applicants should clearly indicate their requests and preferably indicate the relevant section of the Patent Act or the Patent Rules they would like the Commissioner of Patents to consider when processing their request.

The Practice Notice provides clarification on the following topics:

• comparison of former and current legislation, specifically in relation to s. 49 of the Patent Act;
• right or interest in an invention under s. 49(1) of the Patent Act;
• international applications under s. 49(2) of the Patent Act and s. 155(1) of the Patent Rules;
• name changes under s. 125 of the Patent Rules;
• registration of related documents under s. 124 of the Patent Rules;
• mergers under s. 49 of the Patent Act and ss. 124, 125, and 126 of the Patent Rules; and
• improvements to recordal certificates and registration certificates.

Additional information on record transfers, name changes, and registering documents can be found in sections 6.05, 6.06 and 6.07 of the Manual of Patent Office Practice.

Summary By: Steffi Tran