Canadian Intellectual Property Office

The Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO), a Special Operating Agency (SOA) associated with Industry Canada, is responsible for the administration and processing of the greater part of intellectual property in Canada. Intellectual property includes:

• Patents, which cover new inventions or any new and useful improvement of an existing invention.
• Trade-marks, which are a word or words, a design, or a combination of these, used to identify the goods or services of one person or organization and to distinguish these goods or services from those of others in the marketplace.
• Copyrights, which provide protection for artistic, dramatic, musical or literary works (including computer programs), and three other subject-matters: performances, sound recordings and communication signals.
• Industrial designs, which are the visual features of shape, configuration, pattern or ornament (or any combination of these features), applied to a finished article of manufacture.
• Integrated circuit topographies, which refer to the three-dimensional configurations of electronic circuits embodied in integrated circuit products or layout designs.

In addition to registering patents and trade-marks, CIPO manages a Patent Appeal Board that reviews rejected applications and decides first inventorship in patent conflict situations, among other activities. Individuals can also oppose trade-marks or respond to trade-mark opposition through CIPO’s Trade-marks Opposition Board.