CPATA’s Annual Report for 2024 was tabled in Parliament in June. The year was filled with both new initiatives and continued progress, as we advanced important priorities from the 2023-2025 Strategic Framework, including:
- Finalizing the competency framework: In 2024, CPATA worked hand-in-hand with the professions to create the Professional Foundations Competency Profile, which describes the professional skills agents must have to complement their technical competencies. With the adoption of this profile by the Board in 2025, a complete competency framework now exists for the patent agent and trademark agent professions in Canada, describing both the technical and professional knowledge and skills that agents need to provide services to their clients.
- Launching the new qualifying examinations: With the help of over 100 licensees, CPATA launched an entirely new exam regime which tests against the knowledge and skills outlined in the Technical Competency Profiles. The new exams are divided into Knowledge Exams and Skills Exams and were administered for the first time in 2024. This represents an important advance in entry-to-practice requirements for the professions.
- Consulting on the apprenticeships to become an agent: After establishing competency profiles and redeveloping the qualifying examinations, CPATA turned its attention to reviewing the apprenticeship model for entering the professions. Through a broad consultation between April and November 2024, CPATA collected information from licensees and other IP stakeholders about their experiences with and insights about apprenticeships, with the goal of understanding the merits and challenges of the current model. The key findings of this consultation were shared at the 2025 AGM.
- Tackling unauthorized practice and fraud: Throughout 2024 and continuing into 2025, Canadian business owners and IP applicants/holders have been targeted in phishing attempts by fraudulent individuals and companies urging action and requesting payments to prevent ‘threats’ to their intellectual property. CPATA aggressively responded to protect those targeted, including responding to over 225 expressions of concern in 2024, publishing multiple notices and working with authorities to shut down fraudulent websites.
In addition to updates on these key initiatives, the 2024 Annual Report also includes an overview of CPATA’s 2024 Audited Financial Statements, statistics regarding the professions, and more.
