Patent Protection

If you fail to pay the periodic maintenance fees to the Patent Office, your patent will expire. You can also lose your patent protection if your patent is declared invalid or unenforceable by a court action.

When you obtain a patent, you will be able to sue infringers for all damages sustained after the grant of your patent. Also after grant, you may sue for reasonable compensation for infringements that occurred in Canada from the date your application was made available for public inspection (18 months after filing) to the date of grant.

It is important to maintain a current address on record at the Patent Office, to receive both correspondence and fee information from the USPTO for the life of your patent so that notices the Patent Office may send you will get to you.