Reduced Fees for Some On-line Services and Site Availability

CIPO offers on-line services but for technical reasons cannot guarantee that they will be available at all times. Effective January 1, 2004, fees associated with some of these services will be lower than fees associated with other methods of filing. Clients are responsible for ensuring that deadlines are respected even in cases where the performance of the Web site is affected or on-line services are unavailable.

When on-line services are unavailable and a deadline needs to be met, it is the client's responsibility to submit documents by other means and to pay the associated fee that applies to the method chosen in order to meet the deadline. If on-line filing services are unavailable and the client uses an alternate means of filing with a higher associated fee, CIPO will not reimburse the difference between the fee paid and the fees associated with on-line filing services. If the deadline permits, clients can wait until the on-line services are up again and obtain the reduced fee associated with the on-line submission.

CIPO will make every effort to ensure that clients are advised in advance of Web site unavailability. However, should unplanned outages occur, you should consult the emergency procedures outlining alternate filing options.

Information concerning regular maintenance windows which affect the CIPO Web site is available on our Service and Web Site Interruptions page.