PATENTS

I) What is a patent?

A patent for an invention is a right granted to the inventor, by the government or other government authority, to exclude others from making, using or selling your invention from the day the patent is granted to a maximum of 20 years after the day on which the patent application was filed.

In exchange for that right, the patent owner is expected to provide the complete description of the invention and its manner of use in sufficient detail in order that anyone trained in the discipline in which the patent is directed would be able to practice the invention after reading the description.

The rights conferred by a Canadian patent extend throughout Canada, but not to foreign countries. You must apply for patent rights in other countries separately. Conversely, foreign patents do not protect an invention in Canada.

II) What is patentable?

A patent can be obtained for any new and unobvious invention. An invention is basically any process, product, machine or composition of matter, or improvement thereof that is both new and useful.

However, for an invention to be patentable it must meet the following requisites:

• statutory subject matter;
• useful;
• novel;
• non-obvious or inventive.

There are three basic criteria for patentability.

First, the invention must be new. Second, it must be useful (functional and operative). Finally, it must show inventive ingenuity and not be obvious to someone skilled in that area. A patent is granted only for the physical embodiment of an idea. You cannot patent a scientific principle, an abstract theorem, an idea, a method of doing business, a computer program, or a medical treatment.

A patent by definition can be granted for:

• A process
• A machine
• A composition of matter
• An article of manufacture
• Improvements to any of the above.

III) Novelty, Utility, Ingenuity

Novelty

For an invention to be patentable, it must be new. In order to be novel, the invention must not have been made known or available to the public. In order to be novel, the invention must not have been built before or described in a single document with sufficient information to allow someone to make the invention. However, there is a one year exception period. If the invention was made known publicly, a Canadian patent application may still be filed within the year following disclosure.

Utility

The invention must be "useful" for the purpose for which it was designed as specified in the disclosure and the claims. Utility generally refers to a requirement that the invention has industrial or commercial value to the public as defined within the patent itself. A valid patent cannot be obtained for something that inoperative, or that has no useful function.

Non-Obviousness or Inventive Ingenuity

The subject matter of the patent must be non-obvious or "inventive". A determination that the invention is non-obvious is made by deciding whether “the person skilled in the art”, possessed of the entire relevant prior art but deficient of any ingenuity would have been led directly and without difficulty to the solution disclosed and claimed in the patent.

IV) When to apply for a patent

In Canada, patents are given to the first inventor to file an application. Accordingly, it is prudent to file a patent application for your invention as soon as possible after completing your invention, in case someone else is on a similar track.

Schedule of Patent Fees

Fees are in Canadian dollars and Federal and Provincial taxes are additional where applicable. The above fees are minimums and are subject to change.