Category Archives: Copyrights

CIPO Proposes a 25% Increase of Governmental Fees for 2024

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The Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) is proposing to deal with its chronic financial problems by increasing governmental fees in matters of I.P. come next year. The Canadian government is thus proposing to amend the regulations relating to the costs of I.P. matters in Canada. This substantial increase, if indeed adopted, would raise the fees relating to matters such as registration of patents, trademarks, copyrights, industrial designs and trademarks.

As explained in the summary prepared by the government:

CIPO is proposing to adjust most fees by 25% over the 2024 fees to address its current structural deficit situation and return the organization to a position of financial stability. CIPO is also proposing to expand the definition of small entity while maintaining the current patent fees for small entities.

As a result, to give you an idea, the proposed increase would raison the costs associated with trademark application from $330.00 to $458.00 for the first class, and from $100.00 to $139.00 for additional classes. The costs associated with recording assignments would increase from $100.00 to $125.00, etc.

Even though this is only a proposal, it is generally agreed this is likely to sail through and indeed materialize. Come 2024, it seems probable this increase will be adopted and applied.

This is one more good reason not to wait to protect your I.P. rights if you haven’t done so already.

Subscriptions and Increasingly Intangible Intangibles: Where Does it Stop?

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Without wanting to say too much about my age, I was part of the first generation to play computer games as kids. Yeah [says the guys adopting his Grandpa Simpson voice]: Back then, you bought it and could keep playing it ad nauseam, which included table-top games like Monopoly and console games like Pacman on my Atari 2600.

Well, the least one can say is that those days are gone… far gone. In today’s world, the way software and media are increasingly packaged basically did away not only with physical copies but with perpetual licenses altogether, rather turning everything into a something “as a service”.

You want a movie? Blockbuster’s gone, so are most DVDs and Blu-Ray discs, as most everyone turned to the likes of Netflix to watch movies and tv shows. Streaming is now the standard way to go about it. Heck, a friend was recently telling me Disney recently decided to do away with one of their stapes and stop selling copies of their movies on DVDs and the like. From now on (or soon anyway), you want to watch a Disney flick, you catch it in theaters or you stream it on Disney+. That’s it.

I think this speaks volumes about what’s been going on with media over the past 20 years or so. With the advent of the Internet, we collectively realized that no one needs to own… anything, really.

in today’s world, that even extends to software, of course. With quite a few companies discontinuing their apps and desktop software, rather opting to provide an equivalent that you can use through a browser, for example, the very concept of buying something that you control, call your own and can decide to keep around (or not) is quickly disappearing, software-wise anyway.

Of course, once you no longer own it, the producer of software can modify it at will, or even discontinue certain whole functionalities, at which point there’s fairly little you can really do about it. You really liked that cross-cell funky calculation function in that online application? Well, too bad, the producer elected to discontinue it, starting… oh yeah… yesterday. Don’t like it? Too bad for you.

Recently, I even saw this pushed one step further, when I realized a computer I was under the impression I had purchased (ah ah, fool) simply essentially disappeared overnight from STEAM, the widely used gaming platform. Yup, the game editor decided to pull that particular title and, of yeah, the effect was to essentially prevent those who had “purchased” it (or rather thought they did) to access or use it any longer. You liked that game? Too bad, it’s gone.

Heck, I’ve even read about certain car manufacturers abroad “innovating” (see those quotes?), by charging car “buyers” (see em’ again?) a monthly fee for the benefit of certain functionalities in their new vehicles, such as heated seats for $18 a month, etc. Yeah, seems in today’s world, businesses all want in on that subscription model. It’s just too good to pass on, it seems. Anyway, I don’t pretend telling anyone anything about this they didn’t already know. Just slightly amusing (if not outright tragic) to realize this is happening and that there precious little you and I can do about it. It’s just, as they say, the way it goes.

Canada Now a 70 Years+ Copyright Jurisdiction

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Further to Canada and the U.S. entering into a new free-trade deal a couple of years back, Canada recently formally amended its Copyright Act (the “Act”), to extend the protection term of copyright works to 70 years after death of each author.

Following the example of the U.S. that did so a good while back (after lobbying to save copyright over Mickey Mouse from falling into the public domain), Canada thus just added 20 years to how long a typical work will remain protected for. So doing, Canada joins the ranks of several foreign jurisdictions which already hoped on the longer copyright protection term bandwagon.

As to this, I should point out that the new rule will not be retroactive, so that works already in the public domain prior to 2022 will remain so. Technically, I would also point out that, to my knowledge, the coming into force date remains to be decided, though the Act has been amended, what remains is a mere technicality. So, if what you know about copyright includes the basic rule that such protection generally remains for 50 years after death of each author, you should make a mental note: that general rule is now rather 70 years after death of the author.

With a life expectancy of something like 80 years, in Canada, we’re now looking at works produced nowadays that may remain protected for 130 years or more.