Happy 20th birthday to the New Patent Act!
On October 1, 1989, new legislation came into force to complete the transformation of the Canadian patent law system which had started in 1987. These legislative changes were brought on by international treaty obligations.
The most important change was the introduction of the first-to-file system — patents under the New Act would be awarded to the applicant who filed his or her application first, not necessarily to the person who was first-to-invent, as was the case under the Old Act.
The term of New Act patents was also changed significantly, from 17 years starting from the grant of the patent to 20 years from filing of the application. Applicants would no longer have incentive to delay the issuance of patents, which until issue had been confidential patent applications.
Other changes which came into force on this day, 20 years ago: publication of patent applications, enactment of the PCT, maintenace fees for applications, new re-examination procedures, among many others.
