Have your say – Part 1: Canadian Patent Office seeking input on expedited examination

The Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) has launched a public consultation on current and proposed expedited patent examination programs in Canada. The consultation is open until June 23, 2026, and CIPO is seeking input from a broad class of stakeholders in Canada and abroad.

What you need to know

• CIPO is seeking feedback on its four existing expedited patent examination programs and is proposing two new programs: a fee-based “ultra-fast” track program and a no-fee program for key technology areas identified by the Government of Canada.
• The proposed Track 1 – Ultra-Fast Program would provide a commitment to grant a patent or provide a certain amount of examination within a “defined period”, which would distinguish this program from all expedited programs currently offered by CIPO.
• The proposed Expedited Examination for Key Technology Areas program would be responsive to changing government priorities, with the Commissioner of Patents identifying eligible technology areas that correspond to these priorities—for example, biomanufacturing, agrifood productivity, artificial intelligence, quantum technologies, clean energy, critical minerals, and defence.
• The consultation paper identifies several focus areas, including assessing stakeholder needs regarding faster or prioritized examination, understanding benefits and challenges of the current and proposed programs, and identifying features that would better support applicants and innovators seeking grant of a patent. The proposed programs are part of a broader federal effort to reduce regulatory burden on innovators.
• The consultation is welcome because CIPO has been plagued in recent years with significant and unpredictable delays associated with prosecuting and issuing patents, resulting from CIPO’s move to modernize its online portal.

Current programs

The current process for obtaining a patent in Canada using “regular” examination can be time-consuming. In this consultation paper, CIPO stated that it takes on average 34 months from a request for examination to the grant of a patent. Recently, CIPO has experienced extensive service disruptions, resulting in further delays and causing CIPO to lengthen many of its service standards.

To provide context for the proposed two new programs to expedite examination, and because the consultation requests feedback on current programs, we provide an overview in Table 1 below of the four programs that CIPO currently offers to expedite examination. Each program—including the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH), advanced examination for green technologies, the COVID-19 relief pilot, and advanced examination by special order—has its advantages and limitations.

The examination timeframes shown in Table 1 can be contrasted with regular examination, where the service standard for providing the applicant with a first Office Action is 24 months after examination request.
 

Table 1 – Overview of current expedited programs

© 2026 by Torys LLP. All rights reserved.
 

While all four of these programs do accelerate the process of obtaining a patent, they do so by reducing the interval between an action taken by the applicant and the subsequent action by CIPO. They do not impose an upper limit on the duration of prosecution, nor do they mandate a defined amount of examination effort within a specific time frame.

Proposed programs

As part of this expedited program consultation, CIPO has proposed two new expedited programs: a fee-based program and a no-fee program.

Unlike current programs, the proposed Track 1 – Ultra-Fast Program would impose a defined timeline for examination, rather than simply shortening individual steps in the examination process. The proposed eligibility requirements are aimed at streamlining prosecution. First, to be eligible, an application must have a certain number of claims (presumably suggesting an upper limit on claims for program eligibility). Second, an applicant must request Track 1 before substantive examination (like the current PPH program). Third, an applicant would have a reduced amount of time to respond to office actions¹. CIPO has also proposed a cap on the number of Track 1 program requests. Whether the cap would be per-applicant or per-program is unclear.

The proposed no-fee program, Expedited Examination for Key Technology Areas, models the current subject matter–based programs (i.e., the green technology and COVID-19 relief programs), but in a manner that is responsive to changing government priorities for key technology areas, based on industrial, economic, and national-interest policy objectives of the Government of Canada. For example, CIPO has indicated that the program may target patent applications related to biomanufacturing, agrifood productivity, artificial intelligence, quantum technologies, clean energy, critical minerals, and defence. In particular, CIPO has provided an exemplary list of technologies that may be considered based on current government priorities:

• energy resources (e.g., natural gas, nuclear, and wind power)
• critical minerals
• Arctic economic and security corridor
• national infrastructure
• healthcare (e.g., urgently needed medicines)
• national defence
• national interest or public welfare (e.g., prefab/modular housing technology)
• natural disaster prevention and relief (e.g., forest fire-related technology)
• rapidly evolving technology sectors (e.g., internet, additive or advanced manufacturing, quantum computing, autonomous vehicles, big data, cloud computing, AI, telecommunications, and blockchain)
• industries essential to the Canadian economy and national competitiveness

For eligibility, the claims would need to be directed to the defined technological area, and a statement to that effect by the applicant may be required. CIPO is also considering implementing a cap on this proposed program. Whether the cap would be per-applicant or per-program is unclear.

To inform this consultation, CIPO has also identified other eligibility requirements used by other patent offices as part of their expedited examination programs.

What’s next: expedited examination program survey

The expedited examination program survey, which is open to stakeholders in Canada and abroad until June 23, 2026, seeks to gauge participants’ level of expertise and their familiarity with Canada’s existing expedited examination programs. It provides an opportunity to share detailed experiences with each program, offer feedback on whether the current programs meet stakeholder needs, and suggest potential improvements. It then explores how the participants could use the two newly proposed programs, what factors might discourage their use, and invites comments on specific parameters of these proposals. Finally, stakeholders are asked to identify programs offered by ex-Canada patent offices that CIPO should consider adopting in Canada.

Interested stakeholders are encouraged to participate. This consultation is part of a two-part CIPO consultation that is open until June 23, 2026. See our accompanying bulletin, Have your say – Part 2: Canadian Patent Office seeking input on grace period for pre-filing disclosures.