This site uses Javascript to help ensure that the page looks its best when viewed with the most common graphical browsers. If your browser does not support Javascript or if you have turned off the Javascript all of the content and features of the page will still be available but the page may not look exactly as the designers intended. Canadian Intellectual Property Office
Skip all menus (access key: 2) Skip first menu (access key: 1)
Menu (access key: M)  Français  Contact Us  Help  Search  Canada Site
     Strategis  Site Map  What's New  About Us  Registration
Go to Strategis.gc.ca
Go to CIPO Home The Canadian Intellectual Property Office
CIPO Home
Patents Main Page
Patents Database
DECISIONS OF THE COMMISSIONER OF PATENTS
Help
Content
Searching
Search Language
FAQ
Disclaimer
Trade-marks Database
Copyrights Database
Industrial Designs Database
  

Decisions of the Commissioner of Patents

Help: Content

Help from the Client Service Centre
Content of the Database
Currency of Information (Updates)
Decisions of the Commissioner of Patents
Images of Decisions of the Commissioner of Patents Document
Decisions of the Commissioner of Patents Classifications
Search Criteria
Related Decisions of the Commissioner of Patents
Decisions of the Commissioner of Patents Text
Display Options
Site Availability

Help from the Client Service Centre Top of Page

For server error messages or questions related to the Decisions of the Commissioner of Patents use our Request information or publications form or call (819) 997-1936.

To report a technical problem, please complete the Technical Problem Report form.

You may also leave a message for us with the Industry Canada Information Management Call Centre at 1-800-328-6189 (in Canada only). 

Content of the DatabaseTop of Page

The complete Decisions of the Commissioner of Patents collection comprises approximately 1,250 Decisions rendered by the Commissioner of Patents since 1970 on issues raised during the examination of patent applications. This collection is divided into two categories: public and non-public Decisions.

Public Decisions, included in this database, are those Decisions related to applications which belong to one of the following groups:

a) applications filed prior to October 1, 1989, which became available to the public through:

  • grant of a patent;
  • appeal to the Federal Court of Canada; or
  • authorization given by the applicant.
b) applications filed after October 1, 1989, regardless of whether or not a patent was issued.

Non-public Decisions relate to applications filed prior to October 1, 1989, which did not issue to patent, and for which there was neither a filing of an appeal to the courts nor authorization given by the applicant to make the Decision public.

This database provides access to the bilingual public Decision of the Commissioner of Patents.  There are a number of public Decisions which are not included in this database because they are not available in a bilingual format. These Decisions, however, delivered between 1978 and 1985, pertain to applications for which the sole grounds for rejection under review was obviousness, and therefore they are considered to be of limited use in understanding CIPO's policies related to patent application regulations and procedures. Copies of these public unilingual Decisions are available through the Client Service Centre (CSC). To obtain a copy you may order on-line now, call the CSC at (819) 997-2985, or send an e-mail. 

Once a new Decision of the Commissioner of Patents is made available, an applicant has a period of six months to appeal the Decision to the Federal Court of Canada. Once this period has expired without a procedure for an appeal having been made, the application may become a Patent according to the conditions prescribed by the Decision of the Commissioner of Patents in the case of an acceptance. In the case of a refusal, the application will become abandoned. However, if there is an appeal, the outcome of the application will be according to the Decision of the highest Court to have heard the last appeal, whether it is the Federal Court of Canada (Trial Division), the Federal Court of Canada (Appeal Division), or the Supreme Court of Canada.

This database contains Decisions of the Commissioner of Patents in text and image format as well as bibliographic data. Searches may be performed using the following criteria: topics, text (in English, French or both), Decision of the Commissioner of Patents number, application number, patent number, International Patent Classification (IPC), Canadian Patent Classification (CPC) and date (See Search Criteria below). A "hit list" of matching Decisions is returned. Images are not searchable but can be viewed for any particular Decision that has been returned in a hit list.

Currency of Information (Updates) Top of Page

The information for new Decisions of the Commissioner of Patents will normally be available on this site within one week of the Decisions of the Commissioner of Patents being made public. The last update of the Decisions of the Commissioner of Patents was made on September 28, 2006.

Decisions of the Commissioner of PatentsTop of Page

Once a patent examiner, in examining an application, concludes that the dialogue of reports and replies between the applicant and himself has reached an impasse, a document called a Final Action is written. This document describes the position of the applicant, the position of the examiner and the differences between the two. 

It is this document, once transmitted to the Patent Appeal Board (PAB) after the time limit to respond to the Final Action (either by amending the application or arguing the grounds for objections) has passed, which starts the process leading to a Decision of the Commissioner of Patents. 

The PAB, an administrative tribunal composed of two to three members, reviews the Final Action and all pertinent evidence. If requested by the applicant, an oral hearing will also be convened. The PAB, after hearing the parties, provides a recommendation to the Commissioner of Patents. 

After reviewing the findings, the Commissioner makes a Decision which includes a brief statement describing the reasons for the Decision based on the recommendation of the PAB. If the examiner's position is upheld, the applicant will be informed of the reasons and given an opportunity to amend the application for compliance with the Patent Act or Patent Rules, if possible. If it is determined that the examiner's rejection was not justified, the application will be returned to the examiner for further prosecution. An applicant may appeal a Decision of the Commissioner of Patents to the Federal Court of Canada. 

Image of Decisions of the Commissioner of Patents DocumentTop of Page

Each Decisions of the Commissioner of Patents document is digitally scanned to produce an image of the Decisions of the Commissioner of Patents in legal size paper format comprising:
  • Cover page - This page contains the Decision of the Commissioner of Patents reference number, the topics considered in the Decision and the application number. 
  • Decision of the Commissioner of Patents summary - The summary describes the content of the application and the arguments motivating the Decision.
  • First page of Decision of the Commissioner of Patents - The final position of the Patent Examiner is described, followed by an introduction to the actual text of the Decision and the Patent Appeal Board's (PAB) recommendation. 
  • Text of the Decision of the Commissioner of Patents - A description of the claims or the issues under consideration, the different positions of the applicant and the examiner, the recommendation of the PAB and the signature of its members. After this is the position of the Commissioner regarding the recommendation made by the PAB and finally, the Decision of the Commissioner of Patents and orders. 
Images are not searchable but can be viewed for any particular Decision that has been returned in a hit list. You can see non textual components such as formulae and drawings.

When viewing a Decision of the Commissioner of Patents image, a new browser window will open.

Decisions of the Commissioner of Patents ClassificationsTop of Page

A Decision of the Commissioner of Patents will have the same classification as the related patent or application. Decisions of the Commissioner of Patents based on patent documents filed prior to October 1, 1989, are classified according to the Canadian Patent Classification (CPC) system. Decisions based on patent documents filed on or after October 1, 1989, are classified according to the International Patent Classification (IPC) system. The present version of the IPC (version7), in force since January 1, 2000, is divided into 120 classes, 628 subclasses, and over 69,000 groups. The two latest versions (6 and 7) can be consulted on the WIPO Web site.

Search CriteriaTop of Page

Presently, the database lets you search for Decisions of the Commissioner of Patents by: 
TopicsBack to list

The Decisions are classified according to the different issues or topics that are addressed in the Decision of the Commissioner of Patents. There are many topics, and Decisions may be classified under more than one. 

This is the list of topics and the related code.

    A APPLICATION FOR PATENT
      A00 Amendment to
        A11 New Matter
        A12 Supplementary Disclosure
      A20 Double Patenting
      A40 Filing Date of
      A50 Final Action Practice
      A70 Section 43 or Swearing Back of Previous Patent
      A74 Rule 40: Available Information not Supplied
      A75 Rule 44(3): Bona Fide Response
      A80 Section 40: Model
      A85 Section 63
    B CLAIMS 
      B00 Ambiguity or Indefiniteness (incomplete) 
      B20 Excessive Width 
        B21 Functionality (means claims) 
        B22 Not Supported by Disclosure 
      B60 Rule 43: Inventive Difference or Redundancy 
    C DISCLOSURE
      C00 Adequacy or Deficiency of Description 
        C01 Failure to Fulfill Promise (e.g. erroneous theory)
    D DIVISION
      D00 Division 
        D01 Practice 
        D02 Status 
    E CONFLICT
      E00 Conflict 
        E01 Practice 
      E20 Patentability 
        E21 of conflict claims at s.s. 45(4) stage 
        E22 obviousness 
        E25 of non-conflict claims 
    F NOVELTY
      F00 Novelty 
        F01 Anticipation 
      F10 Common General Knowledge 
      F20 Matters Negating Novelty (e.g. documents, use) 
    G UTILITY
      G00 Utility 
    H AGGREGATION OR COMBINATION
      H00 Aggregation 
      H20 Combination (exhausted) or Sub-combination 
    J SUBJECT MATTER (PART 1)
      J00 Meaning of Art 
      J10 Computer Programs 
      J20 Design or Ornamental Effect 
      J30 Games 
      J40 Mental Steps 
      J50 Mere Plan 
      J60 Printed Matter 
      J70 Process or Method Claims 
      J80 Professional or Artistic Skill 
    K SUBJECT MATTER (PART 2)
      K00 Feeding Animals 
      K10 Living Things (Animals, plants, seeds, sperm) 
        K11 Treatment of 
        K12 Diagnostic Methods or Pathological Tests 
      K20 Medicine 
      K30 Microbiological Transformations (vaccines) 
    L REISSUE 
      L00 Application for Reissue (SEE SUB-TOPICS) 
        L01 Division 
        L02 Amendment of Petition 
        L03 Matter Added 
        L04 Commissioner's Duty or Authority 
      L20 Original Patent Claims 
      L30 Grounds or Reasons (SEE SUB-TOPICS) 
        L31 Defective 
        L32 Inoperative 
        L33 Insufficient description 
        L34 Insufficient specification 
        L35 Claiming more 
        L36 Claiming less 
        L37 Claims broader 
        L38 Claims narrower 
      L40 Invention same 
        L41 Different limitations 
      L50 Error, Inadvertence, Accident or Mistake 
        L51 Intention to claim 
        L52 Reasserted cancelled matter 
        L53 Intention fraudulent or deceptive 
        L54 Patent Agent 
      L60 Subsection 50(2) 
      L70 Subsection 50(3) 
      L80 Rule 81 
    M MISCELLANEOUS
      M00 Time Limit to Restore an Application 
    O OBVIOUSNESS
      O00 Obviousness
Search TextBack to list

The complete text of the Decisions of the Commissioner of Patents can be searched by using the "Search Text" feature. Any notes related to Decisions are also searched at the same time.

LanguageBack to list

Both the English version and the French version can be searched independently or together. Furthermore, the Commissioner's notes, which may contain information such as appeals to the Federal Court of Canada (Trial Division), the Federal Court of Canada (Appeal Division), or the Supreme Court of Canada regarding certain Decisions, will be searched regardless of the language pre-selected for the search.

Decision of the Commissioner of Patents NumberBack to list

A search can be made by entering the Decision of the Commissioner of Patents number and activating the "Search" button. 

Application NumberBack to list

On October 1, 1989, a new Patent Act came into effect. For applications which were originally filed before October 1, 1989,  the patent number and the application number are different. In this case, the detailed document will display the application number distinctly. For applications filed on or after October 1, 1989, the application number will be 2,000,000 or greater and, if granted, the patent number will be the same. 

Patent NumberBack to list

Prior to October 1, 1989, the application and the patent have different numbers. For an application filed on or after October 1, 1989, the number assigned for the application and the patent is identical. 

International Patent Classification (IPC)Back to list

The classification system used by the international community to classify inventions by type. It has been used in Canada since August 15, 1978. Each application is assigned a main (primary) classification and can also be assigned multiple secondary classifications. The classification will be in the format:

A##A ###/##
e.g. A61K 37/04  A is the section
A61 is the class
A61K is the subclass
A61K 37 is the group
A61K 37/04 is the subgroup

Canadian Patent Classification (CPC)Back to list

The classification system used by Canada prior to October 1989 to classify inventions.  Each application is assigned a main (primary) classification and can also be assigned multiple secondary classifications. The classification will be in the format:

###/###.###
e.g. 20/230  20 is the class
230 is the subclass

Date SearchBack to list

You can search the database for a specific date or a range of dates corresponding to the date a Decision of the Commissioner of Patents was rendered.

Related Decisions of the Commissioner of PatentsBack to list

In a small number of cases, a single Decision was rendered regarding two or more applications by the same applicant in which the grounds for objection were the same. In these cases, the details page of a Decision will indicate the other Decision(s) with which the particular Decision is grouped.

Decision of the Commissioner of Patents TextBack to list

You can see the text of the Decision of the Commissioner of Patents (read only).

Display OptionsBack to list

From the search results screen, you can view Decision of the Commissioner of Patents details by clicking on the Decision number. The details page includes bibliographic information and text of the Decision. From the details page you can view the images by clicking on the "View Images" button.

Site AvailabilityTop of Page

The site and the network have windows of planned general maintenance activities from Saturday at 6:00 p.m. to Sunday at 4:00 p.m. EST. During this period of time there may be disruptions to the image database or to the site.

Database maintenance is performed each Saturday between 5:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. EST. During this period of time images might not be available.


Top of Page Important Notices