Government IP Funding Programs Across Canada

By Kay Palmer and Alexandra Mazgola, May 15, 2024

Securing intellectual property (IP) rights is a critical step for businesses, particularly for start-ups and small or medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), who want to gain a competitive advantage in the marketplace. To assist in funding IP-related costs, various government funding programs have been developed across Canada to help companies secure IP rights.

Below are some common funding programs available across Canada.

Elevate IP:

ElevateIP is a federal program delivered Canada-wide through selected business accelerators and incubators (BAIs) in collaboration with regional partners to help start-ups develop and implement IP strategies, in addition to offering IP education services.

While eligibility requirements and funding amounts vary depending on the BAI administering the program, start-ups may be eligible for up to $100,000 to develop and implement an IP strategy. Most BAIs require, at a minimum, that the start-up have less than 500 employees and be headquartered in the geographic region of the BAI administering the program. The program funding is divided into 3 tiers:

1. IP Education & Awareness

2. IP Strategy Development

3. IP Strategy Implementation

The selected BAIs in different provinces are listed below:

• Springboard Atlantic Inc.– for Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island
• Mouvement des accélérateurs d’innovation du Québec (MAIN) – for Québec
• Communitech with Invest Ottawa, Launch Lab, and Spark Centre – for Ontario
• North Forge – for Manitoba and Saskatchewan
• Innovate Calgary & Economic Development Lethbridge – for Alberta
• New Ventures BC Society with AccelerateIP – for British Columbia, Yukon, Nunavut and the Northwest Territories

To learn more about the Elevate IP program, please click here.

IP Assist (IRAP):

IP Assist, administered by The National Research Council of Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC IRAP), is a tiered national funding program designed to support SMEs' IP efforts. Under the IP Assist Program, SMEs can receive support and funding across three different levels:

• L1 – IP Awareness
• L2 – IP Strategy
• L3 – IP Action

The funding available for IP Strategy and IP Action ranges from $10,000 to $25,000 for each, with an additional $1,000 for IP awareness. To learn more about the IP Assist program, please click here.

Intellectual Property Ontario (IPON):

IPON is a provincial-run program that provides support to Ontario-based SMEs operating in one of IPON’s served sectors – MedTech, life sciences, artificial intelligence, vehicle technology, and mining and advanced manufacturing – to promote innovation and growth in these highly desired sectors in Ontario. Once the SME is enrolled as an IPON client and is part of IPON’s IP Bootcamp or Partner Program, it may be eligible for up to $35,000 in initial funding for IP protection and commercialization services and have potential access to future IP funding of up to $100,000. It’s important to note that the SME has to cover 20% of IP service costs directly, and IPON covers 80%. To learn more about the IPON program, please click here.

Innovation Access Collective (IAC):

IAC is a membership-based not-for-profit organization funded by the Government of Canada to assist Canadian SMEs in the data-driven CleanTech sector with IP-related needs. Full members may be eligible for grant funding ranging from $5,000 to $20,000, while associate members may be eligible for grant funding ranging from $5,000 to $10,000. In addition, IAC also has a Grant for Women in IP created in response to the demonstrated inequitable gender balance in the IP ecosystem. To learn more about the IAC program, please click here.

CanExport Innovation:

CanExport Innovation provides funding for intellectual property protection in international markets and other related services for Canadian SMEs looking to expand into international markets to develop R&D collaborations through partnerships in foreign markets. Businesses may be eligible for funding of up to $75,000 to assist with research and development (R&D) for a single technology. To learn more about the CanExport Innovation program, please click here.

Eligibility requirements and application process:

Please note the information presented in this article represents only a general outline and the above programs are subject to specific eligibility requirements that are listed on their respective websites that are linked above. For more information, please reach out to an MBM professional who can assist you in determining the best funding program for your business and assist you through the application process.

While some of the above programs accept applicants on a “rolling basis”, other programs require applicants to apply to open calls subject to strict deadlines. We strongly encourage businesses looking to apply to consult the program websites linked in this article for further information regarding eligibility criteria, program application process and deadlines.

MBM is an approved service provider for ElevateIP, IP Assist, and IPON.

If you would like to learn more or require any advice, please contact:

Kay Palmer, Ph.D., Senior Patent Agent
T: 613.801.0452
E: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

To Translate or not to Translate? MBM Provides General Guide for Businesses Operating in the Province of Québec after June 1, 2025

By Scott Miller and Deborah Meltzer, September 21, 2023

If you sell products or have public signage in the Province of Québec, then please consider what changes, if any, will be necessary to the product inscriptions/packaging and signage to ensure compliance with the amendments to the Charter of the French Language, c-11, which came into force on June 1, 2025.

To assist with your review, MBM has prepared the following flow charts:

MBM has developed creative solutions to minimize product inscriptions/packaging and signage changes, and yet still be in compliance with the amendments to the Charter of the French Language, c-11, which came into force on June 1, 2025. The flow charts are provided only as a general guide based on known amendments to the Charter of the French Language, c-11. Future amendments or regulations may impact the information provided above.

Patent Term Extensions - New Rules in Canada

By Louis Allard and Grant Walters, February 12, 2025

The term of a patent is the duration for which the patentee is granted exclusive rights to their invention, which in Canada is 20 years from the filing date of the patent application. New rules for receiving an additional term on a patent in Canada came into effect on January 1, 2025, with eligibility for such an addition starting December 2, 2025. The new rules are defined by amendments to the Patent Act and the Patent Rules, which together provide who is eligible for an addition, an administration process, a method for calculating a term addition, a reconsideration process, and how fees will be administered.

Patent Term Additions:

A term addition granted to a patentee will begin immediately after the expiry of the regular 20-year term and will fully extend the exclusive rights of the patent if the patent is maintained and remains valid. The term additions are extensions distinct from those provided by certificates of supplementary protection, which are only applicable to medicinal ingredients and will operate concurrently. The duration of a term addition will depend on the patent’s application timeline. In granting a term addition, the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) will calculate its duration according to a formula intended to account for unreasonable delays in the patent application process. Briefly, the duration will amount to the number of days elapsed from the eligibility date for the term addition (provided below) to when the patent is issued, minus particular excluded days (subtracted days). The excluded days are those in the application process that cannot be attributed to normal CIPO processing, such as days requiring action from the applicant (e.g., payment of a fee) or days related to delays caused by actions of the applicant. If the calculation results in a negative number of days, it will not cause the regular 20-year term to be shortened but will result in the dismissal of any requests for a term addition.

Who is Eligible:

To be eligible for a term addition, a patent must have been filed on or after December 1, 2020, and must have been issued after the latest of:

• The fifth anniversary of the date when the patent application was filed (the national entry date for Patent Cooperation Treaty [PCT] applications or the presentation date for divisional applications) and
• The third anniversary of the date when examination was requested for the patent application.

The latest of these dates forms the eligibility date in calculating the term addition.

How to Receive a Term Addition:

To receive a term addition for a patent, the patentee must submit a formal request to CIPO within three months of the patent being issued and must pay the required government fee. CIPO will evaluate the request and determine if the patent is eligible for a term addition and, for eligible patents, the duration of the term addition. CIPO will then notify the patentee and provide a two-month ‘observation’ window in which the patentee and any other interested parties may submit comments on the determined duration. If a patentee’s request is successful, CIPO will issue them a certificate granting the term addition. As with the 20-year term, annual maintenance fees will need to be paid to prevent the patent from expiring. It is also worth noting that any person may request reconsideration of the term addition if that person believes that the additional term is longer than should have been authorized.

Why the New Rules:

The new rules for term additions are being introduced to fulfill an agreement under the Canada–United States–Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) to compensate for unreasonable delays that occur prior to the issuance of a patent. The term additions are intended to further encourage the efficient processing of patent applications, to make Canada a more competitive market for innovation, and to bring Canada into better alignment with other major jurisdictions, such as the United States, Japan, and South Korea, which already have similar schemes in place for term extensions. However, the impact is expected to be limited: only about 1,100 applications are expected to be eligible for term additions over the next decade ^[1].

Key Take-Aways:

• A term addition can be requested to account for excessive delays prior to the issuance of a patent.
• Eligibility for term additions starts December 2, 2025.
• Term additions must be applied for in writing to CIPO and will not be automatically granted.

Should you have any questions on patent term extensions and would like a free consultation, please contact:

Louis Allard, Ph.D., Senior Patent Agent
T: 613.801.1054
E: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

This article is general information only and is not to be taken as legal or professional advice. This article does not create a solicitor-client relationship between you and MBM Intellectual Property Law LLP. If you would like more information about intellectual property, please feel free to reach out to MBM for a free consultation.

[1] Regulations Amending the Patent Rules and Certain Regulations Made Under the Patent Act. Canada Gazette, Part I, Vol. 158, No. 20, 18 May 2024.