Public Interest Policy

The purpose of CPATA is to regulate patent agents and trademark agents ‘in the public interest’, in order to ‘enhance the public’s ability to secure the rights provided for under the Patent Act and Trademarks Act.’ (CPATA Act, s.6). The term is not defined in the CPATA Act. 

CPATA has created a policy to describe how we view our responsibilities, and what we concretely mean when we say we regulate in ‘the public interest.’ This scope of this draft policy is somewhat unique in Canada, in that it encapsulates CPATA’s efforts to define what this term actually means on a practical operational level, and it strives to anchor our regulatory actions to this concept.