Written by Peter Wong, Edward Yoo, Dominique Hussey and Stephen Burns

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) has extended many (but not all) patent, trademark, and industrial design deadlines that ordinarily fall in a period beginning on March 16, 2020. In recent months, CIPO has incrementally extended the end date of this period. CIPO, however, has now made a final extension of the end date of this period to August 28, 2020.

Practically, this means that action must be taken on or before August 31, 2020, for deadlines that ordinarily fall in the period from March 16, 2020, to August 28, 2020, inclusive. Some of the more common deadlines extended in this manner are for replying to examination reports, paying maintenance and renewal fees, and taking certain steps in proceedings before the Trademarks Opposition Board.

If meeting the August 31, 2020 deadline remains problematic, it may be possible to extend certain deadlines even further by making a request to CIPO on or before August 31, 2020. However, the extension is not automatic, and not all deadlines can be extended in this manner.

The Bennett Jones Intellectual Property team recommends abiding by the ordinary deadlines whenever possible.

If you have any questions regarding the information in this article, please contact a member of the Bennett Jones Intellectual Property group. In addition, please visit our COVID-19 Resource Centre for other COVID-19-related materials.