Canada: Parliament Introduces Bill C-43: Incorporating The Hague Agreement Concerning The International Registration Of Industrial Designs And The Patent Law Treaty Into Canadian Law

On October 23, 2014, Canadian Minister of Finance Joe Oliver introduced and moved for first reading of Bill C-43, A Second Act to Implement Certain Provisions of the Budget Tabled in Parliament on February 11, 2014 and Other Measures, also known by its short title Economic Action Plan 2014 Act, No. 2.

The Bill seeks to, among other things, make Canada's Industrial Design Act and Patent Act consistent with the Hague Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Industrial Designs and the Patent Law Treaty, respectively.

In its summary section, the Bill states the following with respect to those purposes:

Division 1 of Part 4 amends the Industrial Design Act to make that Act consistent with the Geneva (1999) Act of the Hague Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Industrial Designs and to give the Governor in Council the authority to make regulations for carrying it into effect. The amendments include provisions relating to the contents of an application for the registration of a design, requests for priority, and the term of an exclusive right for a design.

It also amends the Patent Act to, among other things, make that Act consistent with the provisions of the Patent Law Treaty. The amendments include reducing the requirements for obtaining a filing date in relation to an application for a patent, requiring that an applicant be notified of a missed due date before an application is deemed to be abandoned, and providing that a patent may not be invalidated for non-compliance with certain requirements relating to the application on the basis of which the patent was granted.

For further information, please consult the Bill's information page on the Parliament of Canada website: http://www.parl.gc.ca/LEGISInfo/BillDetails.aspx?Language=E&Mode=1&billId=6732518&View=0.

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