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Software Patents Under Canadian Patent Law
Neither computers nor software are specifically mentioned in the Canadian Patent Act.''Patent Act'', RSC 1985, c P-4 Canadian courts have held that the use of a computer in an invention neither lends, nor reduces patentability. Therefore, that an invention involves a computer is not determinative of patentability; instead, whether a computer-using invention is patentable turns on whether that invention meets the general requirements for patentability as would apply to any invention. Law Substantive law Computers, software, or related terms do not appear anywhere in the Patent Act. Therefore, as with any other invention, to be patentable a computer-using invention must meet the general requirements for patentability of any invention as found in the Act. "Invention" is defined in Section 2 of the ''Patent Act'' as: " y new and useful art, process, machine, manufacture or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement in any art, process, machine, manufacture or composit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Patent Act (Canada)
The ''Patent Act'' is Canadian federal legislation and is one of the main pieces of Canadian legislation governing patent law in Canada. It sets out the criteria for patentability, what can and cannot be patented in Canada, the process for obtaining a Canadian patent, and provides for the enforcement of Canadian patent rights. Purpose The purpose of a patent is to protect inventions. Patents provide the owner of a patent with the exclusive right to make, use and sell a patented invention. s 42. These restrictions form a system of encouraging economic and technical growth. The patent is a contract between the inventor and the government who represents society. The inventor obtains a monopoly limited to a 20-year term of producing and selling the patent. Society gains disclosure of the invention ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Novelty And Non-obviousness In Canadian Patent Law
For a patent to be valid in Canada, the invention claimed therein needs to be new and inventive. In patent law, these requirements are known as novelty and non-obviousness. A patent cannot in theory be granted for an invention without meeting these basic requirements or at least, if a patent which does not meet these requirements is granted, it cannot later be maintained. These requirements are borne out of a combination of statute and case law. Novelty The definition of “invention” in section 2 of the '' Patent Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. P-4)'' uses the word “new”. This means the invention must not already be known. Section 28.2(1) of the ''Patent Act'' explicitly codifies the novelty requirement. Section 28.2 thus blocks patent applications if the applicant, or someone who obtained their knowledge from the applicant, made the invention public more than a year before applying; if anyone else made the invention public before the application; or if the invention is already ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Utility In Canadian Patent Law
In Canadian patent law, inventions must be useful, in addition to novel and non-obvious, in order to be patented. General principles Although utility can be demonstrated by commercial success, it only requires that the invention is directed to a practical use and that it does what is indicated in the patent. The mechanism underlying an invention's function does not need to be disclosed in the patent. If a mechanism is proposed in the patent but is subsequently disproven, the patent is not invalidated. An invention is useful if it does what it promises; following the directions should result in the desired effect. The inventor does not have to have created the product of the invention, but the specifications must disclose an actual way to do so. A patent is addressed to a person skilled in the art, and any prior art and knowledge that such a person would have can be taken into consideration when the patent is being interpreted by the courts. If a patent's scope is so broad that ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Subject Matter In Canadian Patent Law
In Canadian patent law, only “inventions” are patentable. Under the ''Patent Act'', only certain categories of things may be considered and defined as inventions. Therefore, if a patent discloses an item that fulfills the requirements of novelty, non-obviousness and utility, it may nonetheless be found invalid on the grounds that it does not fall within one of the statutory categories of “invention”. Since the ''Patent Act'', the categories of patentable subject matter have been defined and interpreted by Canadian courts. Definition and categories of invention Section 2 of the ''Patent Act'' defines “invention” as: y new and useful art, process, machine, manufacture or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement in any art, process, machine, manufacture or composition of matter. Each of the five categories of inventions has been further defined by the Canadian Intellectual Property Office and the Canadian courts. Art '' Shell Oil Co. v. Commissioner o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Patentability
Within the context of a national or multilateral body of law, an invention is patentable if it meets the relevant legal conditions to be granted a patent. By extension, patentability also refers to the substantive conditions that must be met for a patent to be held valid. Requirements The patent laws usually require that, for an invention to be patentable, it must be: * Patentable subject matter, i.e., a kind of subject-matter eligible for patent protection * Novel (i.e. at least some aspect of it must be new) * Non-obvious (in United States patent law) or involve an inventive step (in European patent law) * Useful (in U.S. patent law) or be susceptible of industrial application (in European patent law) Usually the term "''patentability''" only refers to "substantive" conditions, and does not refer to formal conditions such as the " sufficiency of disclosure", the "unity of invention" or the " best mode requirement". Judging patentability is one aspect of the official ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Case Law
Case law, also used interchangeably with common law, is law that is based on precedents, that is the judicial decisions from previous cases, rather than law based on constitutions, statutes, or regulations. Case law uses the detailed facts of a legal case that have been resolved by courts or similar tribunals. These past decisions are called "case law", or precedent. ''Stare decisis''—a Latin phrase meaning "let the decision stand"—is the principle by which judges are bound to such past decisions, drawing on established judicial authority to formulate their positions. These judicial interpretations are distinguished from statutory law, which are codes enacted by legislative bodies, and regulatory law, which are established by executive agencies based on statutes. In some jurisdictions, case law can be applied to ongoing adjudication; for example, criminal proceedings or family law. In common law countries (including the United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Australia and Ne ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Canadian Patent Office Practice
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''Canadian''. Canada is a multilingual and multicultural society home to people of groups of many different ethnic, religious, and national origins, with the majority of the population made up of Old World immigrants and their descendants. Following the initial period of French and then the much larger British colonization, different waves (or peaks) of immigration and settlement of non-indigenous peoples took place over the course of nearly two centuries and continue today. Elements of Indigenous, French, British, and more recent immigrant customs, languages, and religions have combined to form the culture of Canada, and thus a Canadian identity. Canada has also been strongly influenced by its linguistic, geographic, and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
