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(External links: * [http://iposgoode.ca/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/contextualizing-the-software-patent-debate-in-canada-conrad-seaman.doc Canada's software patent problem])
(External links: * [http://www.slaw.ca/2013/05/15/patentable-subject-matter-new-notices-from-canadian-patent-office-anticipated-issues-for-the-court/ Patentable Subject Matter – New Notices From C)
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==Case law==
 
==Case law==
  
=== Schlumberger Canada Ltd. v. Canada (Commissioner of Patents) (1981) ===
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{{also|Amazon ruling by Canadian Federal Court on 14 October 2010}}
  
The case was concerned with the patentability of "a process whereby the measurements obtained in the boreholes are recorded on magnetic tapes, transmitted to a computer programmed according to the mathematical formulae set out in the specifications and converted by the computer into useful information produced in human readable form<ref name="cameron19">Donald M. Cameron. ''Patents for computer-implemented inventions and business methods'', p. 19</ref>." The application for patent was rejected by the Commissioner of Patents. The Federal Court of Appeal upheld the decision of the Commissioner of Patents. On October 21, 1981, the Supreme Court refused leave to the appeal of the Federal Court of Appeal's decision<ref name="cameron19" />.
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==Patent office decisions==
  
Software patents, according to [[patent lawyer]] Eugene Derényi, are widely available in Canada since a 1981 court decision "Schlumberger Canada Ltd. v. Commissioner of Patents".<ref name="stikeman">http://www.stikeman.com/SoftwareCopyright_Patent_Derenyi_07.pdf</ref> According to Donald M. Cameron, the Patent Office took "a                              noticeably "anti-computer patent" stance immediately after the Schlumberger decision". This changed in 1984 with a directive from the Commissioner of Patents<ref name="cameron19" />.
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Since 2005, the Canadian patent office's non-legally-binding ''Manual of Patent Office Practice'' talks of "computer-implemented inventions" and says "''an act or series of acts performed by some physical agent upon some physical object and producing in such object some change either of character or condition''" and "''it must produce an essentially economic result in relation to trade, industry or commerce''".<ref name="stikeman">http://www.stikeman.com/SoftwareCopyright_Patent_Derenyi_07.pdf</ref>
  
This ruling was summarised in a later ruling by the Federal Court as "''the Federal Court of Appeal found that use of a computer did not make a mathematical formula patentable.''" (from [[Amazon v. Commissioner for Patents]])
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{{also|Canadian patent courts and appeals}}
  
=== Re [[Motorola]] Inc. Patent Application No. 2,085,228 (1999) ===
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==Related pages on {{SITENAME}}==
  
=== Re Motorola Inc. Patent Application No. 2,047,731 (1999) ===
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* [[Canadian patent courts and appeals]]
 
 
=== Amazon's 1-click patent appeal (2010)===
 
 
 
:''(See: [[Amazon v. Commissioner for Patents (2010, Canada)]])''
 
 
 
The Canadian patent office rejected [[Amazon]]'s application for a patent on [[one-click shopping]] but a 2010 decision of the Canadian appeal court ruled that the patent office was wrong to reject it.
 
 
 
==Patent office practice==
 
 
 
Since 2005, the Canadian patent office's non-legally-binding ''Manual of Patent Office Practice'' talks of "computer-implemented inventions" and says "''an act or series of acts performed by some physical agent upon some physical object and producing in such object some change either of character or condition''" and "''it must produce an essentially economic result in relation to trade, industry or commerce''".<ref name="stikeman" />
 
  
 
==External links==
 
==External links==
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* [[AIPLA]]: [http://www.aipla.org/html/Patent-Handbook/countries/canada/CAsoftware.html About software and business method patents in Canada]
 
* [[AIPLA]]: [http://www.aipla.org/html/Patent-Handbook/countries/canada/CAsoftware.html About software and business method patents in Canada]
 
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_patent_law Canadian patent law], '''Wikipedia'''
 
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_patent_law Canadian patent law], '''Wikipedia'''
* [http://www.patentlyo.com/patent/2010/10/business-method-patenting-in-canada.html Business Method Patenting in Canada], 15 Oct 2010, '''Patently-O''' - ''about Amazon.com v. Canada (Canada Fed. Ct. 2010)''
 
 
* [http://iposgoode.ca/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/contextualizing-the-software-patent-debate-in-canada-conrad-seaman.doc Canada's software patent problem]
 
* [http://iposgoode.ca/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/contextualizing-the-software-patent-debate-in-canada-conrad-seaman.doc Canada's software patent problem]
 +
* [http://cestepatent.wordpress.com/ C'est é-p@tent! - A bilingual blog of interest to patent practitioners in Quebec and Canada]
 +
* [http://www.slaw.ca/2013/05/15/patentable-subject-matter-new-notices-from-canadian-patent-office-anticipated-issues-for-the-court/ Patentable Subject Matter – New Notices From Canadian Patent Office, Anticipated Issues for the Court?], 15 May 2013, '''slaw.ca'''
  
 
==References==
 
==References==
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{{footer}}
 
{{footer}}
 
[[Category:Countries and regions]]
 
[[Category:Countries and regions]]
[[Category:Case law by region]]
 
 
[[Category:Canada]]
 
[[Category:Canada]]

Revision as of 06:37, 16 May 2013


Legislation

Canada's patent legislation is a federal law called the Patent Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. P-4. The most up-to-date version should always be available from the federal Justice Department's Website at this address:

The Web site of the Canadian Legal Information Institute (CanLII) allows to see recent revisions of the law, regulations adopted under the law, and even search legal cases with reference to this law:

Relative to software

Subsection 27(8) of the Patent Act reads: "No patent shall be granted for any mere scientific principle or abstract theorem."[1]

Software or computer programs are prohibited per se ("as such") in virtue of this subsection. However, this exclusion has been trivially circumvented by claiming patentability of "statutory subject matter" (any "invention" defined under section 2) to which software was integrated. "Computer-implemented inventions"[2] may be patented and have been patented.

Definition of "invention"

As quoted in Amazon v. Commissioner for Patents (2010, Canada), the Patent Act says:

2. In this Act, except as otherwise provided, [...]
[...]
“invention”
« invention »

“invention” means any new and useful art, process, machine, manufacture or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement in any art, process, machine, manufacture or composition of matter;

International Agreements or Conventions

The following international Agreements or Conventions apply to Canada[3]:

  • 1883 - The Paris Convention
  • 1947 - General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) [today World Trade Organization (WTO)]
  • 1978 - Patent Co-operation Treaty (PCT)
  • 1994 - North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)

Case law

See also: Amazon ruling by Canadian Federal Court on 14 October 2010

Patent office decisions

Since 2005, the Canadian patent office's non-legally-binding Manual of Patent Office Practice talks of "computer-implemented inventions" and says "an act or series of acts performed by some physical agent upon some physical object and producing in such object some change either of character or condition" and "it must produce an essentially economic result in relation to trade, industry or commerce".[4]

See also: Canadian patent courts and appeals

Related pages on ESP Wiki

External links

References

  1. The law is also available in French at: http://laws.justice.gc.ca/fra/P-4/index.html
  2. Manual of Patent Office Practice, c.16 revised February 18, 2005.
  3. Donald M. Cameron. Patents for computer-implemented inventions and business methods, p. 9
  4. http://www.stikeman.com/SoftwareCopyright_Patent_Derenyi_07.pdf