News
Industrial Designs in Canada
Canada has its own Classification System comprising 50 classes and 220 subclasses compared to the Locarno System with its 32 classes and 102 subclasses. The Design Office is studying the possibility of utilizing the Locarno classes together with more detailed subclasses from the Canadian Classification System, thereby permitting Canada to harmonize internationally with other IP Offices.
05.2008
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London Agreement in Force - the end of expensive translations?
Today, May 1st 2008, the London Agreement finally comes into force, heralding a new era of cheaper patents across Europe. For European Patents granted from today, a number of the expensive translation requirements occurring at the grant stage will no longer be necessary, and small and large businesses alike can now expect savings of up to 40% during the national validation stage of obtaining a European Patent.
01.05.2008
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Canadian Industrial Designs
Industrial Designs is the smallest of the product lines in the Canadian Intellectual Property Office and has traditionally played a subsidiary role in CIPO to patents and trade-marks. Prior to CIPO implementing major fee increases in January, 2004, the Industrial Design Branch was unable to generate sufficient revenue to even cover its operating expenditures. Further, frequent changes in the Director of the Industrial Design Branch in recent years have resulted in a lack of leadership and stability at the head of the Branch.
04.2008
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No USPTO rule changes
On 1 April 2008, a federal judge in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia handed down his decision in respect of the US Patent Office's (USPTO) proposed Rule changes for which GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) had obtained a preliminary injunction. The Rule changes proposed by the USPTO included limitations with respect to the number of continuation applications that could be filed before the USPTO, in addition to limitation to the number of claims contained within a single patent application. Further information on these Rule changes can be found in our report of the GSK injunction in November 2007.
03.04.2008
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Famous names and trade-marks in Canada
Fame isn't all its cracked up to be. Just try to register a trade-mark in Canada comprised of or incorporating the name of an individual deemed to be "famous".
03.2008
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End in sight for claiming alternatives in the US
There was much excitement in the second half of 2007 over the proposed US law changes relating to limiting the number of continuation applications and requests for continued examinations. Such rule changes would make it harder and more expensive to obtain broad protection for inventions in the US. An injunction was obtained by GSK at the 11th hour. We expect to receive confirmation as to whether or not these rule changes will go ahead later this year.
28.03.2008
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US Patent Office refusing more patents than ever before
The allowance rate for US patents is currently 44%, compared to allowance rates in excess of 70% just eight years ago. Further, over the past few years, the percentage of Appeals which are at least partially unsuccessful has increased from 51% to 69%. This is at a time when the USPTO is examining record numbers of patent applications - over 362,000 in 2007.
13.03.2008
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Signalling your Invention in Canada
In many inventions relating to telecommunications or computers, the underlying novel idea resides in the modification of a signal to achieve some useful purpose. An example can be found in US patent application no. 09/211,928, which relates to the introduction of “watermarks” into signals to help protect media against unauthorized copying.
02.2008
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US to Review Practice on Business Method Patents
To date, the US Patent Office has allowed many patents to business methods which would be refused by other patent offices as relating to a method which is not eligible for patent protection.
28.02.2008
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