Patent Act
The Patent Act governs the grant and enforcement of patents in Canada. A patent is a grant of exclusive right to prevent others from making, using, or selling an invention for up to 20 years from the filing date. To be patentable, an invention must be novel, useful, and involve an inventive step (non-obvious). The Act establishes the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) as the administering agency. The Act provides for patent applications, examination, grant, maintenance fees, infringement remedies, and compulsory licensing. The Act also addresses pharmaceutical patents through the Patented Medicines (Notice of Compliance) Regulations and the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board (PMPRB).
Legal area: Intellectual property law protects creations of the mind, including copyright, patents, trade-marks, and industrial designs.
Year enacted: 1985
Full text: https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/P-4/
Key Provisions
- Section 2: Definition of invention (new and useful art, process, machine, composition)
- Section 27: Patentability requirements (novelty, utility, inventive step)
- Section 28.2: Novelty standard (first-to-file system, effective since 1989)
- Section 42: Rights conferred (exclusive right to make, use, and sell)
- Section 55: Infringement and remedies (damages, injunction, account of profits)
- Section 59: Defence to infringement (invalidity of patent)
- Part V: Patented Medicines (PMPRB, compulsory licences, NOC regulations)
- Section 80: Patent term (20 years from filing date)
Significance
The Patent Act is foundational for Canadian innovation and the pharmaceutical sector. The PMPRB regulates the prices of patented medicines to prevent excessive pricing. The Patented Medicines (Notice of Compliance) Regulations create a linkage between patent protection and drug approval, preventing generic entry before patent expiry. The Supreme Court has addressed the Act in landmark cases including Apotex v Sanofi-Synthelabo (2008) on the promise of the patent doctrine and AstraZeneca v Apotex (2017) on obviousness.