Annual Technical Report on Industrial Design Information Activities in 2023 submitted by the Canadian Intellectual Property Office.


I. GENERAL OVERVIEW OF RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN INDUSTRIAL DESIGN INFORMATION ACTIVITIES CARRIED OUT BY THE OFFICE

Canada continues to actively expand our online service offerings related to industrial design applications/registration.

II. SERVICES AND ACTIVITIES RELATED TO INDUSTRIAL DESIGN INFORMATION CARRIED OUT BY THE OFFICE

In 2023, Canada launched new online services for Industrial Designs. These new online services permit our clients to have their requests processed more efficiently and receive confirmations in real time as some transactions are now fully automated. In addition, Canada created a launch page where there is access to all our online services.


Industrial Design Online Services

 Within the Industrial Design E-Services you can:

  • File a new industrial design application;
  • Amend a previously filed industrial design application;
  • Pay a maintenance fee
  • View office correspondence through e-mailbox
  • Manage your electronic access
  • Send general correspondence
  • Submit the following types of industrial design services through our self-service :
    • Request a refund
    • Applicant change of name/address
    • Request a delay of registration
    • Request for advanced examination
  • Appointment of agents and revocation of agents

The Industrial Design Office provides information regarding any changes or updates to their online service offerings via the Industrial Design Online Services – Release Notes page.

CIPO uses a multifactor authentication for access/use of it’s online services.

III. SOURCES OF INDUSTRIAL DESIGN INFORMATION PROVIDED BY THE OFFICE

Industrial Design Data is available for download from the Canadian Intellectual Property Office website. The databank consisting of trademark, industrial design and patent applications filed with CIPO. Most products were designed for organizations that maintain their own IP databases, while the researcher datasets – a combination of CSV and TXT formats – provide easy access to data for ad hoc research and analytical purposes.


Industrial Design Practice Notices:

Industrial Design Office Practices and Industrial Design Practice Notices pertaining to the Office Practices and Policies are available.

Industrial Design News:

Clients can register to our email subscription service Canadian Industrial Designs News to stay in touch with the latest Industrial Design developments at CIPO. These emails will include:

  • new consultations on industrial designs;
  • practice notices on industrial designs;
  • "What's New" announcements on industrial designs posted on the CIPO website; and
  • announcements of online services updates.

Social Media

CIPO’s official social media platforms are:

Events

The CIPO uses Eventbrite for information activities about all products and services. IP related podcast, case studies and blog can be found on the CIPO website.

The following are some of the informational products available on the Canadian Intellectual Property Office website:

Other sources

IV. ICT SUPPORT TO SERVICES AND ACTIVITIES RELATED TO INDUSTRIAL DESIGN INFORMATION CARRIED OUT BY THE OFFICE

In June 2002 the industrial design processes were automated with the implementation of DesignPlus. Today the system contains bibliographic design data dating back to 1861, including pending and registered designs. DesignPlus is used within the office to manage the overall industrial design process, including classification, search, examination, assignments and maintenance. The system supports such specific office processes as preparing correspondence and updating information.

The Industrial Design system (DesignPlus) has a built-in workflow - once the application is scanned/data entered into DesignPlus, the application number is automatically assigned and the processing clerk completes the filing process. Once the filing is confirmed, the application is automatically added to the classification workload queue. Once classified it proceeds to the pre-examination workload queue; then to the search workload queue; then to the examination workload queue; etc.

Once allowed the registration is confirmed and the registration certificates are printed and sent to the applicant or sent to the clients e-mailbox.

The maintenance fee is paid within the first 5 years from the registration date. A 6-month grace period is available with additional fees. Failure to pay maintenance fee within five years will cause the registration to become expired.

In July 2007, an electronic industrial design filing component was added to allow clients to file their applications electronically. For all client front-ends, the information is checked for completeness, the information is transferred to the Office electronically and the information is automatically loaded into DesignPlus.

In 2018, two new online services were implemented by the Industrial Designs Office in regard to issuing electronic correspondence to clients. A first application, called E-Access, serves to authenticate the users so that they are able to manage their access and account in the E-Mailbox. This second application is a platform where users pull their outgoing correspondence electronically issued by the Office.

In 2019 and 2020 came the introduction of amendments where authorized and authenticated users are able to amend previously filed applications electronically.

In 2023, the Office introduced a new look, new self-serve request types and enhanced some of its online service offerings, expanding the types of amendments, requests and in some cases the transactions are fully automated, available for clients, namely, transfers, third party transfers, corrections to registrations, request for delay of registration, request for advanced examination, appointments and revocations of agents, agent changes of name and address, request a refund, and applicant change of name and address.

For all applications filed through our e-filing application, the information is checked for completeness by the front-end application, following this the transaction is transferred automatically into DesignPlus system.

All bibliographic data and images contained in industrial design applications and registrations are maintained in the internal system DesignPlus, in an NFS-based structure.  A common repository across CIPO, called IP Document File Management (IPDFM) serves a document management storage. A synchronization between the NFS-structure and IPDFM occurs overnight to ensure that both structures are synchronized. IPDFM is also connected to Enterprise Scan, a scanning solution for all the paper files, including paper correspondences, figurative elements, evidence and other paper documents.

Canadian Industrial Designs Search Database

CIPO offers a search tool to query the database, namely, the Canadian Industrial Designs Search Database which is updated on a weekly basis.

The Canadian Industrial Designs Search Database registered application data and images are available to the public on the Internet via the CIPO website.

Industrial Designs Executive Information System (EIS)

DesignPlus is integrated with an EIS (Executive Information System) through a Cognos application. This EIS system provides detailed and comprehensive reports used for tracking and monitoring industrial design processes. Information on the production volumes and turnaround-times can be obtained from the EIS system.

V. PROMOTION ACTIVITIES AIMED TO SUPPORT USERS IN ACCESS AND EFFICIENT USE OF INDUSTRIAL DESIGN INFORMATION

The Office makes industrial design information available to the public in a variety of ways:

  • Public access to the industrial design electronic processing system (DesignPlus) is available in CIPO’s Client Service Centre.
  • The Canadian Industrial Designs Search Database is available to the public on the Internet via the CIPO website.

The following Industrial Design reference material and databases are available to the public via the CIPO web site:

VI.INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION ACTIVITIES IN THE FIELD OF INDUSTRIAL DESIGN INFORMATION

CIPO is presently providing industrial design data in XML ST.96 format, to a number of external database search providers and IPOs including weekly updates of Industrial Design data and design images.

CIPO attends the WIPO’s Standing Committee on the law of Trademarks, Industrial Designs and Geographical Indications.