Specific provisions on large and small entities in Canadian patent applications

When applying for a patent in Canada, the qualifications of applicants of large and small entities can be determined according to the relevant provisions of the Canadian Patent Act to obtain patent application fee reductions. Specifically:

• Large Entity: Business with more than 100 employees
• Small Entity: A business, university or natural person with 100 or fewer employees, excluding:
  • An entity that is directly or indirectly controlled by an entity (other than a university) with 100 or more employees
  • Has assigned or licensed any rights in its claimed inventions to, or is under an obligation to assign or license any rights in its claimed inventions to, an entity (other than a university) with 100 or more employees
  • Small entity status is based on Canadian filing date
  • If the applicant is directly or indirectly controlled by a large entity, or the applicant is obliged by law or contract to transfer or license the patent rights to a large entity, the applicant will be deemed to be a large entity.
  • If a patent or patent application is transferred from a large entity to a smaller entity, the transferred patent owner must continue to pay the standard large entity fees throughout the life of the patent.
  • In the case of software companies, the sale of software licenses to large commercial entities will be considered to constitute a transfer of invention rights.
  • CIPO Small Entity Declaration Tool: https://ised-isde.canada.ca/site/canadian-intellectual-property-office/…
  • The small entity declaration should be submitted as a separate document and requires a signature. When submitting a small entity declaration electronically through MyCIPO Patents, you can apply for a small entity declaration from the "Application" tab. The application document will be automatically generated based on the information entered on the screen, and the small entity declaration document needs to be uploaded separately.
  • The "Small Entity Declaration" must indicate the name of the patent applicant or patentee or the name of the agent and be signed by the applicant or patentee, or any one of the applicants or patentees, or a joint applicant or patentee, or a patent agent, or other authorized person as described in Article 10.02.02 of the MOPOP.

• A small substantive statement requesting reexamination filed by a person other than the patent owner must be filed with the Director and identify the request for reexamination to which it relates.