Client Service Improvements

New and Upcoming Electronic Services at CIPO

CIPO is committed to working with its partners and clients to achieve a world-class intellectual property (IP) regime that is efficient and competitive. From November 24 to December 8, 2008, CIPO held information sessions in Ottawa, Montréal, Vancouver, Calgary and Toronto to inform and engage its clients on recent and upcoming improvements to its electronic products and services. Over 160 clients attended the sessions.

Each day-long session (see the agenda and descriptions) was divided into two parts; the morning was devoted to CIPO's Enterprise Business Renewal (EBR) initiative; and the afternoon focused on e-service offerings.

The links below contain short summaries of the EBR portion of the day including results from the discussions, and links to new products presented at the sessions.

Enterprise Business Renewal (EBR)

• EBR Overview
• Assignments: Upcoming Proposed Changes to Office Practice
• CIPO Submission Form: Upcoming Changes and Benefits

New e-services by business line

Demonstrations of some of CIPO's latest e-service offerings were presented at the sessions:

• New eRegistration Service for Trade-marks – Visit the personalized pages for Agents or Individual Applicants
• Canadian Industrial Designs Database – Over 110 000 Canadian industrial designs can be accessed including from December 1861 to present day
• PCT e-Filing – New online tool for filing Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) applications
• New Patent Maintenance Fees Electronic Payment system – Pay maintenance fees quickly and conveniently for Canadian patents and patent applications

Over lunch members of the CIPO team were taken on a tour of Smart & Biggar/Fetherstonhaugh operations in Vancouver by Patent Agent and Partner John W. Knox.

CIPO would like to continue engaging its clients and partners by giving them the opportunity to share their views with CIPO staff before changes and improvements are made to products and services. As such, we are currently considering offering more information sessions in the future on various topics related to client service improvements and e-services.