Assistance for Inventors and Start-Ups

BC Tech Scale-Up IP Accelerator link

CanExport link

Elevate IP link

Foresight Canada link

Innovate Calgary link

Innovation Asset Collective link

IP Assist, NRC IRAP link

New Ventures BC link

North Forge, Manitoba link

WIPO Awards Program link

Attorney, Agent or Lawyer?

What is the difference between a patent agent, a patent attorney and a patent lawyer? Click here

NDA - Non-Disclosure Agreement

It is not necessary for patent agents to sign an NDA because we are governed by CPATA's Code of Professional Conduct, which covers client confidentiality. However, one can be signed if required.

One-Year Periods

One year priority right - Within one year from first filing a patent application, patents can be applied for in other countries.

One year grace period - Within one year from first disclosing an invention to the public, or using an invention in public, patents can be applied for in the US, Canada and Australia. Japan has a 6 month grace period. Europe and many other countries don't have a grace period, and so you can lose your right to file in some countries if you make use of the grace period in others.

One year on-sale bar - A US patent cannot be applied for more than one year after an invention is sold, even though it may be a private sale or the details of the invention may be hidden. In Canada, only sales that reveal details of the patent application would count, even though reverse engineering may be required.

One year provisional - A provisional patent application expires one year after filing, but within that year further patent applications may be made that claim priority from it.

Patent Marking

Patent marking, while not obligatory, is recommended. The patent number can be placed on the product, its packaging or any literature referring to it. Better, the word "Patent" and a URL can be used instead, for a webpage that lists all the company's patents by number for all the company's covered products. Such virtual marking allows the patentee to add newly issued patents, remove expired or invalidated ones, adapt the list as product features change, and correct errors without any retooling.

A patentee who fails to mark cannot recover damages for infringement occurring before the infringer received actual notice of the patent. Marking puts potential infringers on constructive notice without the patentee needing to send individual notice letters. Marking may also serve as a deterrent against casual copying. Incorrect marking, on the other hand, may lead to penalties for the patent holder.

Patent Term

For utility patents, it is 20 years from the filing date of a non-provisional application, or 20 years from the international filing date of a PCT application. This means that if a provisional patent application is filed first, or priority is claimed from another national patent application, the patent term may expire up to 21 years from the priority date. In some cases the term may be extended as a result of government delays.

PCT Countries

There are over 150 countries party to the Patent Cooperation Treaty.

Notable exceptions are Argentina and Taiwan.

Search Engines

• Search US patents and applications, European patents and applications, Japanese patent abstracts, PCT applications and download full patent pdf's for free... Free Patents Online
• The official US Patent Office search site for patents, applications, trademarks and assignments... USPTO Search
• Canadian Intellectual Property Office search engine... CIPO/OPIC
• Japan. For searching Japanese patent abstracts click the PAJ link... Japan IPDL
• European patent databases... EPO Search
• Australian patent database... AusPat
• PCT search at WIPO... WIPO
• Academic literature... FreeFullPDF