Proposed bill to give Old Act patents 20-year protection

A bill to bring the patent act into compliance with the World Trade Organization (WTO) agreement on intellectual property rights has been tabled in the Senate. The bill responds to a September 18/00 WTO ruling and will extend the term of so-called "Old Act" patents from 17 to 20 years from the date of filing the patent application. Old Act patents were filed prior to 1989 and the implementation of Bill C-22. The new bill affects 138,800 patents in force as of January 1/01. In reality, it will extend the patent term of approximately 30 commercially significant drugs by an average of less than six months. The impact of compliance to the WTO ruling over eight years is equal to "much less" than 1% of pharmaceutical sales, according to an Industry Canada statement....