Canada: Application & Patent Maintenance Guide

Renewal Procedure at the Canadian Intellectual Property Office

Until a Canadian patent is granted, the Patent Attorney handling the application must also provide for the payment of application maintenance fees. After the patent grant date, the applicant is free to chose another service to manage renewals, such as RenewalsDesk.

When a Canadian patent is granted, any fee paid to maintain the application for that year is also considered as the fee paid to maintain the granted patent for that year.

The payment due date for fees covering each patent year following the date of its filing is the patent’s filing date anniversary at the start of that year.

Different fees apply dependent on whether the patent is at application stage, or if it has been granted. Also, dependent upon whether the applicant is considered a small or large entity. The tables below detail each fee option. Further information on Entity Types can be found here.

Late payment is possible for granted patents for up to the end of the patent year, with an additional fee of $200 (CAD).

By way of example, the fee for the third year of the patent’s lifetime is due by the 2nd anniversary of the filing date, but it is possible to make this payment until the 3rd anniversary of the payment date if the additional late fee is also paid.

In Canada, a “Small Entity” is considered to be one which employs 50 or fewer employees or one that is a university. The small entity must not be a subsidiary (or be in any way controlled by) a large entity. The small entity must not have licensed or transferred rights to a large entity (or have any future obligation to do so).

Renewal Fee Schedule