CIPO has recently announced that most of its official fees will increase by at least 25% in 2024. These adjustments will affect all pending applications for patents, trademarks, industrial designs and copyrights, as well as fees for administrative proceedings and renewals. Owners of Canadian intellectual property may wish to consider attending to certain matters (such as new filings or renewals) before the end of the year to minimize the effect of this increase.

Overview of Fee Increases

CIPO does not receive annual funding from the Government of Canada, and CIPO is expected to be fully funded from revenues it generates by service fees. These substantial increases are intended to address CIPO’s current structural deficit situation.

An overview of the main fee increases effective January 1, 2024 is below, and a complete list of fee increases can be found on CIPO’s website here.

Trademarks

Patents

The 25% increase will not apply to Canadian small businesses that qualify as a small entity. The Patent Rules definition of “small entity” will expand to include entities that employ less than 100 employees instead of 50 or fewer employees. The fee increases shown below are for standard entities.

Industrial Designs

Copyrights

Key Takeaways

In view of these upcoming fee increases, owners of Canadian intellectual property may wish to consider attending to certain action items in 2023 to avoid paying the increased fees in 2024.

For trademarks:

• Applicants may wish to file new applications in the fall of 2023, if possible;
• Registrants may, where possible, take care of the Nice Classification and renewal of any trademark registration coming due for renewal. Renewal fees can only be filed up to six months before the expiry of the initial period of registration, but there is an exception to this rule for the first renewal after June 17, 2019 of registrations that existed prior to June 17, 2019.

For patents:

• Owners of pending PCT international patent applications may wish to consider entering national phase in Canada in 2023 (as opposed to waiting for the full 30-month deadline).
• Owners of pending Canadian patent applications may wish to request examination in 2023, or pay annual maintenance fees in 2023.

The author would like to acknowledge the support and assistance of Amy Williams, student at law.

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