OTTAWA - The Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) has announced that it will increase the fees involved with filing and granting patents, trademarks, industrial designs and copyrights.

In addition to these fees, the CIPO will also offer to act as an International Preliminary Examining Authority (IPEA) and an International Searching Authority (ISA). Pricing for the current services will take effect January 1, 2004 with IPEA and ISA fees following in the second half of the year.

These new fees will apply to all applications and patent approvals, including those that were filed and approved before January 1, 2004. The CIPO has also made a series of administrative changes to the Patent Rules and Copyright Regulations to accommodate these new services.

More information is available online at http://www.cipo.gc.ca.

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