Patent advisors are often asked this question. In Canada, CIPO has published the first-everIP Canada Report, which contains an interesting trove of IP statistics. Among the infographics and pie-charts is a series of bar graphs showing the time to issuance for Canada patents.
Figure 25 – Average time period in months for the three main stages of the patent process (Courtesy of CIPO)
Over the past four years, the patent office in Canada has been able to shave months off the delivery time, but the average is still in the neighbourhood of 80 months, or roughly 6 1/2 years. Certainly some patents will issue sooner, in the 3 – 4 year range, and some will take much longer. There are strategies to influence (to some degree) the pace of patent prosecution.
And remember, this is the time to issuance from filing. The time to prepare and draft the application must also be factored in.
Ensure that you get advice from your patent agent and budget for this period of time, it's a commitment. More questions on patenting your inventions? Contact us.
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