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LEGAL REPORT: INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY whether there is a legitimate right to the proceeding during the course of the action. CIRA notes the new policy "may make it more difficult for an individual or organization to prove that a domain was regis- tered by another party in bad faith," and proposed to amend its dispute-resolution rules to make it easier "for the complainant to provide proper evidence in order to prove their case." While the dispute-resolution process is meant for cybersquat- ters, Colombo questions how one would file evidence without knowing who owns a site. "How can you have a judicial process or quasi-judicial process on [a] registrant if you don't know who they are?" asks Colombo. The Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) is cur- with requesting expedited exam in the U.S., so I think this tool is potentially very helpful from a U.S. prosecution perspective." — GRAHAM MCKINNON, SMART & BIGGAR A new pilot project — designed to expedite the patent-applica- tion process for those who have already applied for a patent in either Canada or the U.S. and want to file in the other country — could benefit Canadian applicants in some industries, say patent agents, with some hoping for the program to be imple- mented full time. "There's more work associated rently in the middle of a one-year pilot with the United States Patent and Trademark Office aimed at fast-tracking patent ex- amination between Canada and the United States. It's called the Canada-U.S. Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH). According to CIPO, PPH will speed up the process of obtaining cor- responding patents and "will permit each office to benefit from work previously done by the other office reducing examination workload and improving patent quality." Under the new pilot, says CIPO, "if claims of an ap- plication have been found to be allowable by a first IPO, an accelerated examination can be requested at a second IPO." Accelerated examinations under the program will also be free. The U.S. already uses similar highways with other IP offices in Japan and the U.K. Canada's pilot with the U.S is scheduled to end on Jan. 28, 2009 but "may be extended for up to an ad- ditional year, if necessary, to adequately assess the feasibility of the PPH program," says CIPO. Regardless, it will be evaluated INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY SIM, LOWMAN, ASHTON & MCKAY LLP Barristers & Solicitors Canadian Patent Contentious Firm of the Year for 2008 Managing Intellectual Property. SIM & MCBURNEY Patent & Trade-mark Agents experience. results. 20 Queen W. Ste 3202, Toronto | 416.971.7202 | dimock.com 50 M AY 2008 www. C ANADIAN ntitled-4 1 mag.com 4/4/08 10:30:54 AM