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The Canadian government has recently tabled legislation for self-governance of the Canadian patent and trademark agent professions, thereby creating the Canadian College of Patent and Trademark Agents. As such, regulation of the Canadian patent and trademark agent professions might become unique amongst comparable countries – Canada’s self-regulatory body may have authority over setting and administering competency-based standards, ethical standards and continuing professional education.With respect to patent agency, self-regulation of the Canadian profession comes at a pivotal time, not just for Canada, but in technological history generally. We are now moving into the age of the fourth Industrial Revolution, where file sharing, additive manufacturing (i.e. 3D printing) and artificial intelligence (AI) are democratizing invention and along with it challenging long-standing patent law concepts. Furthermore, developments in AI are set to disrupt our traditional notions of professionalization and the delivery of professional services. Patent agency rests on the nexus of both movements and as such, patent agency and patent agent self-governance are approaching unique historical crossroads.Part 1 of this piece highlights some of the issues that the Canadian profession has had to contend with in recent years along with several emerging trends, such as the growing IP clinical movement, new AI-driven service providers and a growing academic interest in the sociology and administration of patent law, all of which are coming to prominence while the Canadian patent agent profession is acquiring self-regulatory authority. Combined with changing notions of the patent system’s role in society, this raises the possibility of conflicts between professional self-interest entrenched within a self-regulatory governance model and shifting perceptions of the public interest. How the new Canadian patent agent self-regulatory body responds to these challenges will define whether Canada will be a leader in forward-thinking patent agency or whether patent agent self-regulation will become a convenient front for professional, rather than public interests.

The Canadian government has recently tabled legislation for self-governance of the Canadian patent and trademark agent professions, thereby creating the Canadian College of Patent and Trademark Agents. As such, regulation of the Canadian patent and trademark agent professions might become unique amongst comparable countries – Canada’s self-regulatory body may have authority over setting and administering competency-based standards, ethical standards and continuing professional education.With respect to patent agency, self-regulation of the Canadian profession comes at a pivotal time, not just for Canada, but in technological history generally. We are now moving into the age of the fourth Industrial Revolution, where file sharing, additive manufacturing (i.e. 3D printing) and artificial intelligence (AI) are democratizing invention and along with it challenging long-standing patent law concepts. Furthermore, developments in AI are set to disrupt our traditional notions of professionalization and the delivery of professional services. Patent agency rests on the nexus of both movements and as such, patent agency and patent agent self-governance are approaching unique historical crossroads.Part 2 of this piece critically analyzes the new College of Patent Agents and Trade-mark Agents Act [College Act] in view of the issues and concerns set out under Part 1. Part 2 argues that a responsive regulation approach to patent agent governance is required to ensure that Canadian patent agency remains open and flexible to the challenges ahead. From this perspective, Part 2 assesses the ways in which the proposed College Act appears to achieve the necessary responsiveness and where it falls short. In some instances, the analysis under Part 2 will also provide proposed revisions or additions to the College Act intended to better address the concerns set out under Part 1.

During the first Industrial Revolution, the patent system developed in an era of democratized invention. Individual inventors dominated patent filings and helped create a narrative surrounding the transformative impact of the patent system on the lives of inventors and society. Existing scholarship often overlooks the role of patent agents, those individuals who assisted inventors in securing patent rights, during this era. Industrial Revolution era patent agency was broad and indiscrete compared to its current form, which was largely a product of the needs of individual inventors and a pre-professionalization view of the discipline. As corporatization slowly replaced the individual inventor and professionalization began to dominate many occupational fields, the professional patent agent materialized. However, the emergence of disruptive technologies in our new Fourth Industrial Revolution may be reversing both of these trends, with the re-emergence of democratized invention and challenging the discretization of many fields of professional service.

Tremendous confusion has revolved around the theory and application of the doctrine of essential elements in Canadian patent law ever since the Supreme Court of Canada first introduced the doctrine in Free World Trust c. Électro Santé Inc. In recent years, the Canadian Intellectual Property Office’s (CIPO) interpretation and application of the doctrine in its patent application examination guidelines has been the subject of considerable criticism from the Canadian patent profession. However, CIPO’s misapplication of the doctrine in recent years’ Patent Agent Qualifying Examination has received relatively little attention. This paper examines the application of the doctrine of essential elements in recent years’ Canadian Patent Agent Qualifying Examination. The analysis begins with a thorough and comprehensive review of the doctrine of essential elements under Canadian patent law. The analysis reviews the last ten years’ Canadian Patent Agent Examination, with a focus on recent years’ emphasis on the doctrine of essentiality. Despite the fact that the doctrine itself is still unsettled under Canadian law, the approach taken on recent years’ Patent Agent Exams is at best an ambiguous, and at worst an inaccurate application of the doctrine. This paper concludes by demonstrating that the concerns surrounding the doctrine of essentiality may be significant contributing factor to invalidity issues surrounding recent years’ Patent Agent Exams.

The majority of proposals for international antidumping reform focus almost entirely on the relevant economic factors- consumer welfare losses and gains. Therefore, almost all proposals come to the exact same conclusion; in light of the enormous welfare losses suffered by domestic consumers, international antidumping law should be repealed in its entirety, or at least replaced by some form of international competition law. However, this analysis views the issue of antidumping law through the constructivist lens, and more specifically, the embedded liberalism view of international trade law. From this perspective, economics alone does not grasp the constitutive realities at play in antidumping law; domestic perspectives of legitimacy and fairness shape the contours of international antidumping law, and these constitutive norms espouse a view that protectionism, in a variety of different shapes and forms, is as much a part of international trade law as the traditional laissez-faire liberalist approach. This paper concludes that public interest inquiries, which form part of a small number of countries’ antidumping laws, embraces the constitutive realities at play in antidumping law and provide an opportunity for development of legitimate international antidumping reform. This paper examines the Canadian approach to public interest inquiry in antidumping, including recent developments. This paper concludes that the current Canadian experience demonstrates that embracing a public interest inquiry as part of antidumping reform may provide true hope for future development based on a embedded liberalism view of international trade relations.

Only registered Canadian patent agents may represent others before the Canadian Patent Office. To qualify as a registered Canadian patent agent, candidates must complete an apprenticeship followed by successfully passing the Canadian patent agent examination. This article analyzes the current regulatory framework for Canadian patent agents. Based on a theoretical, historical and international comparative analysis, this article demonstrates that the current Canadian regulatory model has lost sight of its purpose and is symptomatic of a greater crisis of legitimacy plaguing the Canadian patent agent profession. The article highlights the need for greater reform of the Canadian patent agent regulatory framework in order to better serve the intellectual property needs of the Canadian public. This article concludes with a series of comprehensive recommendations for reform of the current Canadian regulatory framework.

Only registered Canadian patent agents may represent others before the Canadian Patent Office. To qualify as a registered Canadian patent agent, candidates must complete an apprenticeship followed by successfully passing the Canadian patent agent examination. This article analyzes the validity of the current Canadian patent agent exam. The analysis includes a comprehensive review of the development of the current exam, as well as a review of candidate solution papers from the most recent exams.

We synthesize knowledge about the policy and practices and infrastructure available for technology transfer of student inventions. Our joint consideration of intellectual property protection and business and legal support services has tried to overcome some of the traditional functional and knowledge silos.