– Gatineau – Canadian Intellectual Property Office
The Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) is pleased to announce its participation in the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)'s Digital Access Service (DAS) for industrial design applications as of .
Joining the DAS supports CIPO's Five-Year Business Strategy and its service strategy to offer a modern, client-centric service experience through e-enabled services.
The DAS is an electronic digital library service, administered by WIPO, to facilitate the secure exchange of priority documents between intellectual property offices (IPOs). Previously, applicants had to request certified paper copies of documents from an initial IPO and then file those documents with other IPOs. DAS simplifies this process by providing an electronic system whereby applicants may request that the initial IPO make priority documents available on the system. The applicant may then request that other IPOs retrieve those documents via the service for applications filed subsequently.
The DAS will make it easier for applicants who have a priority claim in participating jurisdictions, such as the United States, China, India, Korea and Spain, to file their priority documents with CIPO. Joining DAS will also benefit Canadian applicants who choose to file in Canada first by allowing them to make a copy of their application available through the service to support their filings in other countries.
This new service is currently available only for industrial design applications, with the aim of expanding it to patent applications after Canada accedes to the Patent Law Treaty.
To learn more about how CIPO operationalizes the DAS for industrial design applications, please consult the Industrial Design Office Practice Manual sections 6.02.02 and 8.07.08.01.
For more information about the WIPO DAS, please visit WIPO's website.