CIPO Formalized the Change to the Refusal and Review Process for Industrial Design Examination Decisions

Release Time：2024-08-22 08:51Author：Views：326

Following public consultation and an extensive pilot project, the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) is formalizing the change in practice whereby an industrial design examination decision to refuse registration is reviewed by a subject-matter expert from the Trademarks and Industrial Designs Branch (TIDB) rather than by the Patent Appeal Board, and bringing an end to the pilot project that was established to test this change. As of August 7, 2024, all reviews of industrial design examiner decisions will continue to be conducted by a subject-matter expert from the TIDB, as it was the case during the pilot project.

This change is also accompanied by a change in correspondence whereby the Notice of Possible Refusal is replaced by a Final Examination Report which maintains the outstanding objections to registration and invites the applicant to provide final arguments in writing. Upon receipt of a response to the report, the application will be reviewed by a subject-matter expert from the TIDB. As with any examination reports, if the applicant does not reply to the Final Examination Report within three months after the date of the report, the application will be deemed abandoned. Please note that any outstanding Notice of Possible Refusal continues to apply.

By entrusting the review to a subject-matter expert from the TIDB and moving to a Final Examination Report, CIPO aims to enhance consistency in final industrial design decisions, while improving timeliness by reducing unnecessary reviews and refusals.

For more information on how these changes are operationalized, please consult section 18 of the Industrial Design Office Practice Manual.

Information source: https://ised-isde.canada.ca/site/canadian-intellectual-property-office/en/formalization-change-refusal-and-review-process-industrial-design-examination-decisions

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