Canada Joins WIPO’s Patent Law Treaty in its Unprecedented Intellectual Property “Going Global” Move for the Second Time in the Same Year

On July 30, 2019, World Intellectual Property Organization (“WIPO”) officially reported that it had received Canada’s instrument of ratification of the Patent Law Treaty (“PTL”), a treaty designed to streamline formal procedures for national and regional patent applications and patents. The PLT comes into force for Canada on October 30, 2019.[1] This is the second time this year and the third time within the last two years (2018-2019) that Canada has made an official statement to the international community that it is serious about “going global” and joining yet another major international WIPO treaty.

The “Going Global” Move

For Canada, the recent move is aligned with the bigger plan of modernizing the country’s Intellectual Property legal framework and practices directed at the overall efforts to develop and implement its Intellectual Property Strategy (“IP Strategy”) in order to help ensure that Canada’s IP regime is modern, robust and supportive of Canadian innovation in the 21^st century. The initiative is also within the timeframe allocated by the Government of Canada for its unprecedented “going global” move which includes joining international IP treaties in major areas, such as: Industrial Design (joined internationally and came into force in Canada in late 2018); Trademarks (joined internationally and came into force in Canada in the Summer of 2019); and Patents (joined internationally and scheduled to come into force in Canada in the Fall of 2019).[2] 

The PLT and Amendments to Canadian Patent Laws

The PLT aims to harmonize and streamline patent administrative procedures among national IP offices (i.e., Canadian Intellectual Property Office, or “CIPO”). It addresses issues such as the provision of notification to avoid loss of rights, representation before the IP office, and red-tape reduction.[3] Among the key benefits for Canadian businesses, the Government of Canada highlights the following:

• Establishing more efficient processes to secure a filing date;
• Harmonized administrative procedures and formalities; and
• Modernized patent legislative framework[4] (i.e., aligned with the international treaties/standards that are in place and are applicable to all World Intellectual Property Organization – “WIPO” – member states).

In September 2019, the office of Economic Development Canada announced that amendments to the Patent Act and the new Patent Rules would come into force on October 30, 2019, shortly after the Federal election scheduled to take place on October 21. This is consistent with the announcement in Canada Gazette Part II (July 10, 2019), when the amended Patent Rules were officially published (amendments are current as of June 22, 2019).[5]