As of today, November 5, 2018, the changes the Industrial Design Act and Rules have come into force bringing the Industrial Design Act and Rules into alignment with the Hague System.  The Hague System enables design patents to be filed and managed in multiple countries via one application. Some key changes to note are the following:

• Greater flexibility when filing divisional applications
• Increased terms of protection (a minimum of 10 years protection up to 15 years of protection)
• A wider range of images are now accepted such as pdfs and images include photographs and line drawings

For more information please visit the Canadian Intellectual Property Website.