Application to reinstate expired industrial designs dismissed due to lack of jurisdiction and insufficient evidence of CIPO error.
The applicant sought to reinstate two expired industrial design registrations under section 22 of the Industrial Design Act after its agent failed to pay maintenance fees.
The applicant alleged that the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) systems failed to process an online payment or respond to facsimile instructions.
The Federal Court found no evidence of CIPO system failure, attributing the non-payment to human error by the applicant's agents.
As the registrations expired by operation of statute, the Court held it had no jurisdiction to grant the requested retroactive relief.
The application was dismissed.
