Intellectual Property

“Canada has a rather strict system compared to other jurisdictions […], Nonetheless, it is still quite navigable in practice with the guidance of an experienced practitioner.” – Herman Cheung By Julius Melnitzer | March 16, 2026 Canada’s double patenting (DP) regime, which recognizes both “same invention” DP and “obviousness-type double patenting” (OTDP), but has no provision […]

“Except for Quebec, a civil law jurisdiction, Canada has very few statutory provisions covering personality rights specifically.” — Daniel Anthony Like New Zealand, Canada’s federal government and common law provinces do not recognize the general, US style “right of publicity” that protects personality rights—the right to control one’s name, image, likeness—as a property right. “Except for Quebec, […]

“AI increases the risk of misuse of personal information, both in terms of the information that businesses are feeding into, and receiving from, AI platforms.” — Thomas Huthwaite By Julius Melnitzer | March 5, 2026 With the advent of artificially-generated images and viral content, the growing ubiquity of deepfakes and dupes has become a growing concern, […]

“New Zealand’s current regime is more closely allied with other countries, including Australia, than it was before.” – Sam Ting By Julius Melnitzer | February 3, 2026 New Zealand and Australia both allow divisional applications. Although both prohibit double patenting, their laws and rules are not the same, and recent developments in New Zealand have narrowed […]

In China, there is no doctrine preventing an applicant from obtaining multiple patents for obvious variants, patentably indistinct subject matter, or incremental improvements, so long as the claims are not identical in scope – Michael Huang Double patenting doctrine worldwide builds on the principle that an inventor is entitled to only one patent for each invention. […]

By Julius Melnitzer | February 10, 2026 “Many business owners believe that having a company name, a domain name, and/or a trading name provides them with the exclusive right to promote their brand. But only trademark registration affords the legal right to a brand name.” — Binh Rey IPH Limited is an intellectual property (IP) services network […]

By Julius Melnitzer | February 3, 2026 “Applicant behaviour during prosecution has little bearing on PTA in most instances in Canada.” — Jeff Leuschner Patent term adjustment (PTA)—the mechanism that extends a patent’s term beyond the usual 20-year expiry date when granting authorities have unreasonably delayed its issue—is now available in Canada, more than a quarter […]