Assistance for Inventors and Companies
New Ventures BC link
Innovate Calgary link
North Forge, Manitoba link
IP Assist, NRC IRAP link
CanExport link
Innovation Asset Collective 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 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.
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
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Testimonial
- "Wow ! You went beyond what I expected and rewrote the whole thing transforming it from an amateur description to a professional one."
~ Alvin Smith, Inventor
- "Valuetech really helped my investment decisions by laying out the patent landscape very clearly."
~ Russell Warburton, Investor
- "Damien’s work on IP and beyond is strong on the idea generation part, and thorough. For my part, he could be my IP Strategist anytime."~ Louis Ketelaars, Philips
- "Awesome work! ...I feel my IP is in good hands with your expertise and eye for detail."~ C.S., Victoria
- "Damien is without doubt a top performer, he has the ability to maintain total composure under very tough conditions. This made working with him a real pleasure."~ Andy Pullinger, Oxford Instruments
- "We’re so glad that you’ve joined us...our team have been struggling so much..."
- "Wow ! You went beyond what I expected and rewrote the whole thing transforming it from an amateur description to a professional one."
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Did you know?
- There are patents on applying for a patent.
- The word “patent” comes from the latin term “litterae patentes”, meaning “open letter”.
- Drug patents can be extended by up to 5 years.
- You can access published patents for free.
- The notion of a patent dates back to Ancient Greece.
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