Vol. 137, No. 10 — March 8, 2003

Rules Amending the Patent Rules

Statutory Authority

Patent Act

Sponsoring Department

Department of Industry

REGULATORY IMPACT ANALYSIS STATEMENT

Description

The Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO), a Special Operating Agency of Industry Canada, administers Canada's intellectual property (IP) system comprising patents, trade-marks, copyrights, industrial designs and integrated circuit topographies. It carries out its mission to help accelerate Canadian economic development and strengthen Canada's innovative capacity by granting or registering IP rights, disseminating IP related information, encouraging innovation and promoting Canada's IP interests internationally.

Canada's positioning as a leader in the global economy relies, in part, on an effective IP framework based on world-class standards. Ensuring a modern and globally competitive intellectual property regime is essential in creating a business climate that is conducive to innovation and R&D; in Canada and that attracts investment to Canada.

CIPO manages Canada's IP framework. It confers ownership or recognition of IP rights in exchange for public disclosure of the creativity and processes behind that property. It also ensures that the wealth of data and strategic information derived from these innovations is accessible to Canadians. IP protection is separately sought in each country, thus any foreign entity wanting to protect IP rights in Canada needs to file within Canada.

The increasing complexity of IP applications, in addition to increased demand for services (as indicated in the chart below), provides a significant challenge to CIPO. In a recent survey, clients expressed a general satisfaction with the quality of services provided by CIPO but indicated a strong desire for a significant reduction in the time required to examine and grant or register IP rights. For CIPO, the challenge is to maintain quality and improve upon its service levels in order to meet client expectations, while concurrently improving workplace well-being for employees and positioning Canada more prominently on the international IP stage.

Increased workload, fueled by client demand, has resulted in growing inventories and lengthening turnaround times, contrary to the expectations for a world-class IP agency. Lack of resources limits CIPO's ability to respond to demands for service in a timely fashion while still maintaining quality.

Canada has charged fees for the registration or granting of IP rights throughout its history. The current patent fees were last changed in 1989, trade-mark and industrial design fees in 1985 and copyright fees in 1997.

The fee structures in place at CIPO are consistent with international norms for IP agencies, i.e., fees are charged for filing, examination, registering and granting of IP rights, for maintenance or renewal of these rights and for a variety of other services. Fees currently charged by Canada are significantly less than those charged by major IP agencies in other jurisdictions, as noted in the following table.

CIPO, as a Special Operating Agency within Industry Canada that is financed through a revolving fund, is required to operate in a business-like manner and to fully recover its costs from the clients receiving its services. Taxpayers have not been required to fund CIPO costs. Intellectual property rights are expected to have economic value to the holder of the rights, and consequently, long-standing Canadian government policy has been to require those obtaining these economic benefits to pay for the costs of managing the IP system in Canada. Most government jurisdictions around the world follow a similar policy.

Current fee levels will not provide sufficient funds in coming years to maintain current service levels, let alone improve the service levels to a state expected by clients and consistent with international norms. Without increases in funds, applicants for IP registration will face lengthening turnaround times, CIPO's ability to introduce new technology will be restricted, and representation of Canadian IP interests internationally will be severely compromised. For example, by the end of 2007 in the absence of increased funding, the turnaround time to complete a request for a patent application would be approximately five years as opposed to the international norm of 18 to 24 months.

In addition to fee changes, a series of administrative, housekeeping amendments are proposed. Changes to the Patent Rules will:

(a) Support certain proposed fee changes and establish a basis for the international search (ISA) and international preliminary examination (IPEA) services which will be offered by CIPO to Canadian patent applicants. These services are fundamental components of the Patent Cooperation Treaty which facilitates the obtaining of patent protection in multiple countries from the filing of a single international patent application. Currently, these services are offered by only ten other IP offices in the world bearing the status of international authority. Canadian entities requiring ISA and IPEA services must obtain them through an international authority — the European Patent Office. With CIPO offering the services, the work will be done in Canada rather than in another country, thus contributing to Canadian economic activity.
(b) Provide a safeguard to applicants and patentees who unsuccessfully attempt to pay a fee. Currently, an applicant or registrant who pays an incorrect fee (e.g., by miscalculating an exchange rate) is at jeopardy of losing the IP right.
(c) Permit a priority claim based on a filing in a regional office, such as the European Patent Office which represents several European countries.
(d) Clarify the definition of a basic patent application to distinguish it from a more specialized, reissue application.

Amendments to the Copyright Regulations will:

(a) Clarify the deemed receipt date of physical and electronic correspondence. This will ensure the timing of receipt of each type of correspondence is considered equally.
(b) Require requests for registration of an assignment or licence of a copyright to be in writing. This will provide certainty in the request being made.
(c) Remove certain references to "inches." References to metric measurement will remain.
(d) Clarify that a fee is not charged for correction of clerical errors committed by the Registrar.

Alternatives

CIPO funds its operations entirely from fees collected for services, without a requirement for Parliamentary appropriations. CIPO has considered three options for changes in fees:

Option 1: Status Quo — no changes to fees

If there are no changes in user fees, CIPO revenues will not be adequate to either maintain quality and/or improve service levels, such as the time it takes to grant or register IP rights. For example, given the expected increase in demand and current staffing levels, by 2007 the turnaround time to process a request for examination of a patent may be 48-60 months instead of the international norm of 18-24 months. In this situation, Canada would clearly be in danger of losing a competitive edge. With the proposed fee increases, CIPO will be able to achieve a standard of 24 months or less, once current backlogs in applications are cleared.

Option 2: Reduce or eliminate fees charged for services

Reduction or elimination of user fees would require that CIPO be funded through appropriations. This option is not feasible since it would not be consistent with Treasury Board Policy that CIPO operates in a business-like manner such that the revenues it collects are sufficient to cover its costs. This situation would not be consistent with international practices, since all major jurisdictions charge fees for IP registration and maintenance.

Option 3: Increase fees to provide funds for improved service levels

Under this option, many of the current user fees would be increased and a few new fees introduced. The revenues from these fees would be adequate for CIPO to fully recover its costs and to improve quality and service levels, consistent with clients' expectations and international norms. This option is the only one which permits CIPO to carry out its mandate in a responsible manner. (Note: these fees are briefly outlined in the next section.)

Benefits and Costs

Overall Impact

The proposed increases in fees are expected to have a very minor impact on Canadian business and economic activity. Approximately 75 percent of CIPO revenues are being received from foreign entities seeking IP protection in Canada, and consequently, the impact of fee increases on Canadian entities is much smaller than the total increase in revenues. The net increase in fees paid by Canadian entities is expected to be about $6 million per year. Further, CIPO will be able to provide about $6 million worth of services to Canadian entities related to international search and international preliminary examinations, instead of the firms now having to obtain these services from another jurisdiction. In addition to being able to keep this work in Canada, applicants will benefit from a reduced fee for domestic patent applications when CIPO has already provided an international search or international preliminary examination. The net increase in IP fees would have little measurable impact on Canadian innovation or on Canadian economic activity.

A key element underlying these planned fee changes is to increase CIPO's capacity significantly to service its clients as the organization seeks to further strengthen its customer focus and its business operations. As such, the benefit to Canadian and other applicants and registrants will be:

— more timely service (e.g. reduced turnaround time for examination of an application to register a patent);

— improved quality (e.g. levels comparable to or better than those of other IP offices);

— access to new services in Canada (e.g. the international search and international preliminary examination activities);

— introduction of new technology (e.g. to allow more efficient electronic filing of applications and to further facilitate the use of e-commerce by CIPO's clients as the organization migrates to a fully electronic, Web-based environment); and

— better dissemination of IP information in Canada (e.g. to encourage citizens and businesses to use or to make more effective use of the IP system to stimulate innovation and provide competitive advantage in the marketplace).

Since fees related to filing an application for obtaining an IP right are being kept at relatively low levels, it is not expected that the fee increases will have any significant impact on the number of IP applications filed with CIPO.

Canadian fees will still remain competitive with those of other jurisdictions, as noted in the table below:

⁽¹⁾ The USA and Japan are reviewing their fees; the comparison is to current fees in other jurisdictions.

Impact on IP applicants/patentees/registrants

The total increase in fees for patent applicants and patentees who maintain their rights over the full 20-year life cycle of a patent would be $1,250, an increase of 25 percent (1.7 percent per annum) since the last fee increase in 1989 (inflation, as measured by the CPI, has increased by 33 percent over the same period). The vast majority of patent applicants utilize the services of private sector patent agents to prepare their applications. The fees charged by CIPO are estimated to represent approximately 10-12 percent of the total cost to the applicant for obtaining IP rights, once the fees they pay to patent agents are also taken into account. Since CIPO fees are charged progressively over the patent life cycle, applicants and patentees can choose not to pay further fees to maintain their IP rights when they perceive that there is no longer an economic benefit to do so.

Specifically, under the Patent Rules, there are currently 36 fees listed. Of these, 17 will be increased, 2 will decrease and 17 will remain the same. Four new fees will be introduced. The major fee increases include: fees for application, registration and grant of a patent for a large entity will increase from a total of $1,000 to $1,500 (fees for small entities are 50 percent of these amounts); patent maintenance fees over the 20-year life cycle will increase from $4,050 to $4,800 (fees for small entities are 50 percent of these amounts); fees to request the advance of an application will increase from $100 to $500; and fees for an application to reissue a patent will increase from $800 to $1,600. The major new fees are for new services for international search and international preliminary examination activities.

For trade-mark applicants, most fees are rising by modest amounts; for example, the cost to acquire a trade-mark registration will rise from $350 to $500. This amounts to $33.33 per year of rights over the 15-year effective life of a trade-mark, an increase of 43 percent, or 2 percent per annum since the last trade-marks fee increase in 1985 (inflation has increased by 59 percent over the same period). Consequently, there will be minimal, if any, impact on the acquisition of trade-mark rights.

Specifically, under the Trade-marks Regulations, there are currently 22 fees listed, of which 16 will increase, two will decrease and four will remain the same. No new fees will be introduced. The significant increases relate to: filing an application to register a trade-mark (an increase from $150 to $300); filing an application to amend the register for a trade-mark (from $300 to $450); filing a request for an extension of time (from $50 to $125); and filing a statement of opposition to the registration of a trade-mark (from $250 to $750).

There will be a positive impact for stakeholders in the area of copyright filings, since reduced fees are being introduced for electronic filings and no change is being made to fees for paper filing. Under the Copyright Regulations, there are currently six fee items, of which three are decreasing, two are increasing and one is not changing. The increase relates to providing copies or extracts of the register.

Increased fees for industrial design applications will have a relatively minor effect on applicants. Stakeholders agreed to the changes when they were first proposed in 1997, and there has been a predominately positive reaction from stakeholders during recent consultations.

Specifically, under the Industrial Design Regulations, there are now six fees listed, all of which will increase. Five new fee items will be introduced. Increases relate to the examination of an application to register a design (from $160 to $400); maintenance of a design (from $215 to $350); and examination of an application to register an assignment or other document relating to a design (from $35 to $100). The significant new fees relate to requesting reinstatement of an abandoned application, and acceleration of an application to examine an application to register a design.

Impact on "small entities"/individuals

Under the Patent Rules, a small entity is defined as an entity that employs 50 or fewer employees, or that is a university. These small entities account for approximately 20 percent of patent applications, including both Canadian and foreign sources. Small entities would continue to pay a lower fee (50 percent of the fee paid by large entities) for the filing, examination, grant and maintenance of patents. Continuation of this policy will mitigate any impact on this group. The total increase in fees for a patent right maintained by a small entity throughout the 20-year patent life cycle would be $625; this amounts to an average impact of just over $30 per year. This is considered to be a very minor impact in comparison to the potential benefits derived from IP protection. Small entity provisions apply only to patent activity, not to other forms of IP.

Impact on agents

There will be small increases in the annual registration fees payable by patent and trade-mark agents. For prospective patent agents, there will be a total one-time increase of $850 (from $300 to $1,150) in the fees payable to sit for examinations and to first register as an agent, and for prospective trade-mark agents there will be an increase of $350 (from $400 to $750). The related fees compare favourably to the fees paid for examination and registration of other professionals (e.g., lawyers). The increase represents less than one day of billing time for a typical agent, and consequently is considered to be of very minor impact.

Impact on CIPO

The proposed regulations will lead to an increase in total CIPO revenues of approximately $32 million by fiscal year 2006-2007. This represents an increase of approximately 40 percent over 2001-2002 revenues, or an average amount of about 8 percent per year over the 5-year period. This will allow CIPO to improve its services to a level acceptable to IP clients and to pay for normal annual cost increases (e.g. future IT and human resource investments).

Consultation

Consultation process

A formal consultation process was undertaken from October 28 to December 6, 2002. Information on the proposed changes in user fees, the rationale for the changes, comparisons of CIPO fees to those of other jurisdictions, and other relevant information was published on the CIPO Internet site under www.cipo.gc.ca. Letters were sent to all Canadian IP professional associations and to other relevant business associations, informing them of the proposed fee changes and inviting them to information sessions to discuss the changes and any impacts therefrom. Further, similar letters were sent to a random, representative sample of approximately 2 600 applicants and registrants. All stakeholders were invited to submit comments in writing or by e-mail to CIPO.

Information sessions were held in Ottawa, Montréal, Toronto and Vancouver in mid-November to brief interested parties.

In February 2003, CIPO posted on its Web site a follow-up report to the consultations that highlighted stakeholder input and the changes that were made to the proposed fee changes in light of their feedback. Coupled with the required pre-publication planned for March 2003 in the Canada Gazette, Part I, this will provide stakeholders with an extended period of time in which to further comment on the proposed changes.

Consultation results

Feedback from the broad IP constituency, including individuals, businesses, universities and organizations, has been received through the information sessions, Web site responses, e-mails and letters. Based on their input, there is general and widespread agreement that fees need to be increased in order for CIPO to be able to respond to higher demand and provide quality services in a timely manner. There was common understanding and acceptance that some "catch-up" was necessary due to the length of time since fees were last increased. However, to avoid large increases in the future, suggestions were made that CIPO should review fee levels on a more regular basis. (In this regard, CIPO will work toward reviewing its fees again in the next three to five years.)

Some concern was expressed at information sessions about increases in a few specific fees where respondents suggested that the increased fees might conflict with the principle of ensuring fair and equitable access to the IP system. Adjustments to the fee change proposals have been made to address these concerns and are expected to be supported by stakeholders.

Several professional associations have responded:

— The Canadian Chamber of Commerce (CCC) indicated that they welcomed the general undertaking to improve service levels and supported reasonable increases in fees. The CCC expressed some concern with two particular fees, and CIPO has modified its proposals to reflect these concerns.

— The Intellectual Property Institute of Canada (IPIC) indicated that they generally favour an increase in patent fees, which must go hand in hand with an improvement in the quality and speed of examination, and concurred with the proposed fee increases for Industrial Design. IPIC raised concern with two specific fee increases; CIPO has modified these fee increases. IPIC also expressed concern about the feasibility for some applicants and agents to take advantage of reduced fees for the electronic filing of trade-mark applications and suggested that the same fee be applied to all types of filings. CIPO has decided to retain the discount for electronic filing, consistent with Government-on-Line goals.

— The joint Trademark Legislation Committee of IPIC and the National Intellectual Property Section of the Canadian Bar Association indicated that they are not opposed to fee increases in certain areas, on the understanding that there will be a corresponding increase in the quality of service. They provided specific suggestions on a variety of trade-mark fees, some of which recommended smaller increases and some of which suggested larger increases than CIPO was proposing, in order to mitigate the particular effects on their clients and to better correspond to the economic value received by trade-mark registrants. CIPO has made adjustments to its fee proposals that accommodate many of the suggestions.

— The International Federation of Industrial Property Attorneys (FICPI) indicated that they believed a fee increase was justified, that it was overdue, and that it is not unreasonable to increase fees by 100 percent due to the length of time since the last increases. FICPI made several suggestions for the modification of specific fee proposals, and CIPO has made adjustments that accommodate many of the suggestions.

Revisions to fee proposals as a result of consultation

Several adjustments have been made in fee proposals to address stakeholder concerns. The more significant changes are:

— Increases in fees to file a patent application and to maintain a patent right will be reduced from what was originally proposed (the total fees over the 20-year life cycle will be $6,300 instead of the $6,900 proposed).

— Increased fees to request an advance of an examination for a patent have been scaled back to $500 instead of the proposed $1,000.

— The proposal to combine two current fees for a trade-mark application and registration will not proceed. Stakeholders indicated that they preferred the fee to be paid in two parts and that they supported an increase to the total fee, given that this fee has not been increased in 17 years. This will continue to make the initial application fee more accessible to individual inventors and small businesses. Total fees to apply for and register a trade-mark will be $500 instead of the $400 proposed. As outlined earlier, a discount for electronic filing will reduce this total fee by $50.

— The proposed fees for filing a statement of opposition to the registration of a trade-mark will be scaled back to $750 from the originally proposed increase to $1,250. Other stakeholder comments to re-engineer this fee will be addressed during the next fee review.

— The proposed fees for filing an extension of time for a trade-mark application will be scaled back to $125 from the proposed amount of $150.

— The proposed fees for requesting to send one or more notices pursuant to sections 44 or 45 of the Trade-marks Act will be reduced to $400 from the proposed amount of $500.

— Two trade-mark fees will be increased from the levels initially proposed. The fee to extend wares or services (item 3 of the fee regulations) will be $450 instead of the proposed amount of $350. The fee to file a request pursuant to paragraph 9(1)(n) or (n.1) of the Trade-marks Act (item 12 of the fee regulations) will increase to $500 instead of the current fee of $300. Stakeholders indicated that increases in these areas were preferable to higher fees in other areas (i.e. the fees indicated above which have been scaled back).

Compliance and Enforcement

These Rules will be enforced by the application of existing provisions in the Patent Act, the Trade-marks Act, the Copyright Act, and the Industrial Design Act. In many cases, the required fee must be paid prior to CIPO undertaking a related action. In other cases, failure to pay a fee could result in a loss of IP protection or loss of status. Enforcement and compliance provisions remain unchanged as a result of the proposed regulatory changes.

Accordingly, there are no new compliance and enforcement provisions required to monitor and enforce these regulatory changes.

Contact

For further information, please contact: Graham Frost, Director, Planning, Finance and Administration Branch, Canadian Intellectual Property Office, Place du Portage, Phase I, Room 413, 50 Victoria Street, Hull, Quebec K1A 0C9.

PROPOSED REGULATORY TEXT

Notice is hereby given that the Governor in Council, pursuant to section 12 (see footnote a)  of the Patent Act as it read immediately before October 1, 1989, and section 12 (see footnote b)  of the Patent Act, proposes to make the annexed Rules Amending the Patent Rules.

Interested persons may make representations with respect to the proposed Regulations within 30 days after the date of publication of this notice. All such representations must cite the Canada Gazette, Part I, and the date of publication of this notice, and be addressed to Graham Frost, Canadian Intellectual Property Service, Place du Portage I, Room 413, 50 Victoria Street, Hull, Quebec, K1A 0C9.

Ottawa, February 27, 2003

EILEEN BOYD

Assistant Clerk of the Privy Council

RULES AMENDING THE PATENT RULES

AMENDMENTS

1. The definition "application" in section 2 of the Patent Rules (see footnote 1)  is replaced by the following:

"application" means, except as otherwise provided by these Rules, an application for a patent, but does not include an application for the reissue of a patent; (demande)

2. The Rules are amended by adding the following after section 3:

3.1 (1) Subject to subsection 6(1), if, before the expiry of a time limit for paying a fee set out in Schedule II, the Commissioner receives a communication in accordance with which a clear but unsuccessful attempt is made to pay the fee, the fee shall be considered to have been paid before the expiry of the time limit if

(a) the amount of the fee that was missing is paid before the expiry of the time limit;
(b) if a notice is sent in accordance with subsection (2), the amount of the fee that was missing, together with the late payment fee set out in item 22.1 of Schedule II, are paid before the expiry of the two-month period after the date of the notice; or
(c) if a notice is not sent, the amount of the fee that was missing, together with the late payment fee set out in item 22.1 of Schedule II, are paid before the expiry of the two-month period after the day on which the communication was received by the Commissioner.

(2) Subject to subsection 6(1) and unless the person making the communication did not provide information that would allow them to be contacted, if the Commissioner has received a communication in the circumstances referred to in subsection (1), the Commissioner shall, by notice to the person who made the communication, request payment of the amount of the fee that was missing together, if applicable, with the late payment fee referred to in subsection (1).

(3) Subsections (1) and (2) do not apply in respect of the fees set out in items 9 to 9.4 and 22.1 of Schedule II.

3. Subsection 13(2) of the Rules is replaced by the following:

(2) The members of the Examining Board shall be appointed by the Commissioner, and the chairperson and at least three other members shall be employees of the Patent Office and at least five members shall be patent agents nominated by the Intellectual Property Institute of Canada.

4. The heading before section 52 of the Rules is replaced by the following:

International Phase

5. The Rules are amended by adding the following after section 53:

53.1 The Commissioner shall act as an International Searching Authority and an International Preliminary Examining Authority in accordance with the Patent Cooperation Treaty and the Regulations under the PCT.

6. Section 55 of the Rules is replaced by the following:

55. (1) Fees payable pursuant to Rules 15 and 57 of the Regulations under the PCT shall be paid in Canadian currency.

(2) Money received under Rules 15 and 57 of the Regulations under the PCT shall be deposited in the account entitled the Patent Cooperation Treaty Fund within the account entitled the Canadian Intellectual Property Office Revolving Fund and shall be paid out of that account for purposes in accordance with those Rules.

7. The heading before section 56 of the Rules is replaced by the following:

National Phase

8. The heading before section 58 of the Rules is repealed.

9. Subsections 88(3) and (4) of the Rules are replaced by the following:

(3) For the purposes of subsection (1), if the previously regularly filed application is for a patent granted by a national or an intergovernmental authority having the power to grant patents effective in more than one country, the applicant may provide the Commissioner with the name of the authority with which the application was filed instead of the country of filing.

(4) For the purposes of subsection (1), if the previously regularly filed application is an international application, the applicant may provide the Commissioner with the name of the receiving Office with which the application was filed instead of the country of filing.

10. Item 1 of Schedule II to the Rules is replaced by the following:

11. Items 3 to 5 of Schedule II to the Rules are replaced by the following:

12. Subparagraph 6(a)(ii) of Schedule II to the Rules is replaced by the following:

13. Item 9 of Schedule II to the Rules is replaced by the following:

14. Schedule II to the Rules is amended by adding the following after item 9:

15. Item 10 of Schedule II to the Rules is replaced by the following:

16. Item 12 of Schedule II to the Rules is replaced by the following:

17. Item 16 of Schedule II to the Rules is replaced by the following:

18. Item 20 of Schedule II to the Rules is repealed.

19. Item 21 of Schedule II to the Rules is replaced by the following:

20. Schedule II to the Rules is amended by adding the following after item 22:

21. Items 25 to 27 of Schedule II to the Rules are replaced by the following:

22. Items 30 to 32 of Schedule II to the Rules are replaced by the following:

23. Items 33 to 35 of Schedule II to the Rules are replaced by the following:

TRANSITIONAL PROVISIONS

24. For greater certainty, items 30 to 32 of Schedule II of the Patent Rules, as enacted by section 22 of these Rules, do not apply in respect of fees paid before January 1, 2004 pursuant to those items as they read immediately before January 1, 2004.

25. For greater certainty, where, before January 1, 2004, an application for a patent is deemed to be abandoned for failure to pay a prescribed fee, the amount of the fee that must be paid for the purposes of paragraph 73(3)(b) of the Patent Act to reinstate the application is the amount set out in Schedule II of the Patent Rules as they read on the date of abandonment.

26. Where, in respect of an application for a patent filed on or after October 1, 1989, a notice is sent before January 1, 2004 pursuant to subsection 30(1) or (5) of the Patent Rules, the amount of the final fee that must be paid for the purposes of subsections 30(1) or (5) of the Patent Rules is that set out in Item 6(a) of Schedule II of the Patent Rules as they read immediately before January 1, 2004.

COMING INTO FORCE

27. (1) These Rules, except sections 1, 3 to 9 and 14, come into force on January 1, 2004.

(2) Sections 1, 3 and 9 come into force on the day on which these Rules are registered.

(3) Sections 4 to 8 and 14 come into force on the day that the Agreement between the Canadian Commissioner of Patents and the International Bureau of the World Intellectual Property Organization in relation to the functioning of the Canadian Commissioner of Patents as an International Searching Authority and International Preliminary Examining Authority under the Patent Cooperation Treaty comes into force.

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Regulations Amending the Trade-marks Regulations (1996)

Statutory Authority

Trade-marks Act

Sponsoring Department

Department of Industry

REGULATORY IMPACT ANALYSIS STATEMENT

For the Regulatory Impact Analysis Statement, see the Rules Amending the Patent Rules.

PROPOSED REGULATORY TEXT

Notice is hereby given that the Governor in Council, pursuant to section 65 (see footnote c)  of the Trade-marks Act, proposes to make the annexed Regulations Amending the Trade-marks Regulations (1996).

Interested persons may make representations with respect to the proposed Regulations within 30 days after the date of publication of this notice. All such representations must cite the Canada Gazette, Part I, and the date of publication of this notice, and be addressed to Graham Frost, Canadian Intellectual Property Service, Place du Portage I, Room 413, 50 Victoria Street, Hull, Quebec, K1A 0C9.

Ottawa, February 27, 2003

EILEEN BOYD

Assistant Clerk of the Privy Council

REGULATIONS AMENDING THE TRADE-MARKS REGULATIONS (1996)

AMENDMENTS

1. Section 19 of the Trade-marks Regulations (1996) (see footnote 2)  is replaced by the following:

19. The members of an examining board shall be appointed by the Registrar and at least two members of the board shall be trade-mark agents nominated by the Intellectual Property Institute of Canada.

2. Subsection 33(2) of the Regulations is repealed.

3. Items 1 to 3 of Part I of the schedule to the Regulations are replaced by the following:

4. Item 4 of Part I of the schedule to the Regulations is repealed.

5. Items 5 to 9 of Part I of the schedule to the Regulations are replaced by the following:

6. Item 11 of Part I of the schedule to the Regulations is repealed.

7. Items 12 and 13 of Part I of the schedule to the Regulations are replaced by the following:

8. Items 16 to 18 of Part III of the schedule to the Regulations are replaced by the following:

9. Items 19 to 22 of Part IV of the schedule to the Regulations are replaced by the following:

COMING INTO FORCE

10. These Regulations come into force on January 1, 2004.

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Regulations Amending the Industrial Design Regulations

Statutory Authority

Industrial Design Act

Sponsoring Department

Department of Industry

REGULATORY IMPACT ANALYSIS STATEMENT

For the Regulatory Impact Analysis Statement, see the Rules Amending the Patent Rules.

PROPOSED REGULATORY TEXT

Notice is hereby given that the Governor in Council, pursuant to section 25 (see footnote d)  of the Industrial Design Act, proposes to make the annexed Regulations Amending the Industrial Design Regulations.

Interested persons may make representations with respect to the proposed Regulations within 30 days after the date of publication of this notice. All such representations must cite the Canada Gazette, Part I, and the date of publication of this notice, and be addressed to Graham Frost, Canadian Intellectual Property Service, Place du Portage I, Room 413, 50 Victoria Street, Hull, Quebec, K1A 0C9.

Ottawa, February 27, 2003

EILEEN BOYD

Assistant Clerk of the Privy Council

REGULATIONS AMENDING THE INDUSTRIAL DESIGN REGULATIONS

AMENDMENT

1. Schedule 2 to the Industrial Design Regulations (see footnote 3)  is replaced by the following:

SCHEDULE 2
(Subsections 9(1) and 10(3), and sections 18, 19 and 21)

TARIFF OF FEES

COMING INTO FORCE

2. These Regulations come into force on January 1, 2004.

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Regulations Amending the Copyright Regulations

Statutory Authority

Copyright Act

Sponsoring Department

Department of Industry

REGULATORY IMPACT ANALYSIS STATEMENT

For the Regulatory Impact Analysis Statement, see the Rules Amending the Patent Rules.

PROPOSED REGULATORY TEXT

Notice is hereby given that the Governor in Council, pursuant to sections 59 (see footnote e)  and 62 (see footnote f)  of the Copyright Act, proposes to make the annexed Regulations Amending the Copyright Regulations.

Interested persons may make representations with respect to the proposed Regulations within 30 days after the date of publication of this notice. All such representations must cite the Canada Gazette, Part I, and the date of publication of this notice, and be addressed to Graham Frost, Canadian Intellectual Property Service, Place du Portage I, Room 413, 50 Victoria Street, Hull, Quebec, K1A 0C9.

Ottawa, February 27, 2003

EILEEN BOYD

Assistant Clerk of the Privy Council

REGULATIONS AMENDING THE COPYRIGHT REGULATIONS

AMENDMENTS

1. Subsections 2(2) to (4) of the Copyright Regulations (see footnote 4)  are replaced by the following:

(2) Correspondence addressed to the Copyright Office may be physically delivered to the Office during ordinary business hours of the Office and shall be considered to be received by the Office on the day of the delivery.

(3) For the purposes of subsection (2), where correspondence addressed to the Copyright Office is physically delivered to the Office outside of its ordinary business hours, it shall be considered to have been delivered to the Office during ordinary business hours on the day when the Office is next open for business.

(4) Correspondence addressed to the Copyright Office may be physically delivered to an establishment that is designated by the Commissioner in the Canadian Patent Office Record as an establishment to which correspondence addressed to the Office may be delivered, during ordinary business hours of that establishment, and

(a) where the delivery is made to the establishment on a day that the Office is open for business, the correspondence shall be considered to be received by the Office on that day; and
(b) where the delivery is made to the establishment on a day that the Office is closed for business, the correspondence shall be considered to be received by the Office on the day when the Office is next open for business.

(5) For the purposes of subsection (4), where correspondence addressed to the Copyright Office is physically delivered to an establishment outside of ordinary business hours of the establishment, it shall be considered to have been delivered to that establishment during ordinary business hours on the day when the establishment is next open for business.

(6) Correspondence addressed to the Copyright Office may be sent at any time by electronic or other means of transmission specified in the Canadian Patent Office Record.

(7) For the purposes of subsection (6), where, according to the local time of the place where the Copyright Office is located, the correspondence is delivered on a day when the Office is open for business, it shall be considered to be received by the Office on that day.

(8) For the purposes of subsection (6), where, according to the local time of the place where the Copyright Office is located, the correspondence is delivered on a day when the Office is closed for business, it shall be considered to be received by the Office on the day when the Office is next open for business.

2. Subsection 3(1) of the Regulations is replaced by the following:

3. (1) Except as otherwise provided by the Act or these Regulations, communication in respect of a copyright shall be in writing, but the Commissioner may also accept oral communications.

3. Paragraph 6(2)(a) of the Regulations is replaced by the following:

(a) the evidence required by paragraph 57(1)(a) of the Act; and

4. Section 8 of the Regulations is replaced by the following:

8. All applications for registration of copyright, requests for registration of an assignment of copyright, or a licence granting an interest in a copyright, and any correspondence to the Commissioner shall be legible and clear and, if in paper form, on white paper that measures at least 21 cm by 28 cm but not more than 22 cm by 35 cm on one side only, with left and upper margins of at least 2.5 cm.

5. Section 9 of the Regulations is replaced by the following:

9. The fee to be paid by a user of a service of the Copyright Office set out in column 1 of any of items 3 to 8 of the schedule is the fee set out in column 2 of that item.

6. Item 1 of the schedule to the Regulations is replaced by the following:

7. Items 4 to 6 of the schedule to the Regulations are replaced by the following:

COMING INTO FORCE

8. (1) Sections 1 to 4 come into force on the day on which these Regulations are registered.

(2) Sections 5 to 7 come into force on January 1, 2004.

[10-1-o]

Footnote a 

R.S., c. 33 (3rd Supp.), s. 3

Footnote b 

S.C. 1993, c. 15, s. 29

Footnote 1 

SOR/96-423

Footnote c 

S.C. 1994, s. 47, s. 201

Footnote 2 

SOR/96-195

Footnote d 

S.C. 1993, c. 44, s. 170

Footnote 3 

SOR/99-460

Footnote e 

S.C. 1993, c. 15, s. 8

Footnote f 

S.C. 1997, c. 24, s. 37(2)

Footnote 4 

SOR/97-457

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