Canada cannot do enough for USTR and originators

After a twelve-month period that has seen Canada row back on its controversial ‘promise’ doctrine for evaluating the utility of patents, while also introducing two-year patent-term extensions in the form of certificates of supplementary protection (CSPs), the country could have been forgiven for thinking that the criticisms it received last year from the US Trade Representative (USTR) over intellectual-property (IP) might be softened in this year’s ‘Special 301’ report.