Effective October 12, 2012 new guidelines came in to effect at the Canadian Intellectual Property Office relating to the correction of errors introduced in the naming of an Applicant at the time of filing of national entry. These guidelines can be found at:
http://www.cipo.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/cipointernet-internetopic.nsf/eng/wr03562.html
The situations covered by these guidelines include:
1. Where it appears that one of the joint applicants should not have been joined or that another applicant or other applicants should have been joined.
2. Where the incorrect information on record results from an error that qualifies as a clerical error.
3. Where the error in the petition, PCT Request, or request for entry into the national phase does not qualify as a clerical error.
3.1 Where the requester establishes that the error was made in the naming of the correct applicant and did not result in the naming of an existing different entity.
3.2 Where the error resulted in the identification of an incorrect applicant.
It has been our recent experience that the CIPO will not proceed with requests made prior to October 12, 2012 but processed thereafter which fail to comply with these guidelines. When CIPO deems that they cannot proceed with the request, the CIPO is, in a letter, advising the Applicant of this and directing them to the new guidelines.