Provisional Patent Applications: An Early Filing Date Is Only as Good as the Disclosure
August 26, 2026
For many inventors and companies, provisional patent applications can be appealing. Their relatively informal filing process can keep costs lower while providing valuable time to further refine an invention or assess its commercial viability. More importantly, filing a provisional application can…
Read MoreSoftware and Fintech Patents Under CIPO’s March 2026 Practice Notice
May 27, 2026
Part 4 of a 4-part series on subject matter eligibility after CIPO’s March 2026 Practice Notice. What CIPO Says Computer-implemented Example 2 in the March 2026 Practice Notice addresses a method of selecting an investment portfolio based on return and risk criteria.…
Read MoreQuantum Computing Inventions and CIPO’s Physicality Requirement
May 07, 2026
Part 3 of a 4-part series on subject matter eligibility after CIPO’s March 2026 Practice Notice What CIPO Says The March 2026 Practice Notice does not address quantum computing specifically. Quantum computing inventions are therefore assessed under the same framework…
Read MoreAI and Machine Learning Patent Applications Under CIPO’s Physicality Standard
April 29, 2026
Part 2 of a 4-part series on subject matter eligibility after CIPO’s March 2026 Practice Notice. What CIPO Says Computer-implemented Example 3 in the March 2026 Practice Notice describes a system that uses a layered neural network, trained on historical data, to generate…
Read MoreCIPO’s March 2026 Practice Notice: What Changed, What It Means, and How It Affects Prosecution
April 22, 2026
Part 1 of a 4-part series on subject matter eligibility after CIPO’s March 2026 Practice Notice On March 24, 2026, the Canadian Intellectual Property Office released a new Practice Notice on patentable subject matter, replacing PN2020-04 and responding to recent Federal Court of Appeal decisions. For…
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