How to Start Filing a Patent Application Through CIPO's E-Filing Service in Canada

The Canadian Intellectual Property Office, known as CIPO, is the federal office that receives patent applications in Canada. Its current filing portal is MyCIPO Patents, a centralized portal for patent e-services launched in 2024 under the Next Generation Patents initiative, according to MyCIPO Patents – What to expect. CIPO invites filers to use MyCIPO Patents for new regular applications and divisional applications, and states that the Canadian patent e-filing tool is kept available as an alternative until CIPO is satisfied that the systems are fully stabilized, on the same page. This guide walks through filing a regular Canadian patent application through MyCIPO Patents: checking the invention against CIPO's published criteria, preparing the application documents, signing in, submitting through the portal, paying the fee, and what follows filing.

State plainly what this guide does not do. It describes the published filing process only. It gives no advice on whether any particular invention is patentable, no guidance on how to draft claims or a description beyond CIPO's published formatting and content requirements, and no legal advice. CIPO's own pages state that the description, claims and drawings form the basis of the patent and that nothing new can be added to an application once it has been filed, which is why the preparation step matters more than the upload step. Where a filing decision turns on the facts of an invention, that decision belongs to the applicant and, where one is appointed, a licensed patent agent — not to this guide.

Work through the steps in order. The filing date you secure in step 5 depends on the minimum contents described there, and the description you file is the description the application will be judged on, so settle the documents before you open the portal.

1. Confirm the invention fits CIPO's published criteria, and search before you file

CIPO's starting page for the process sets out what can be patented in its own terms. To be patentable, an invention must be new, useful and innovative: new means the first of its kind in the world, useful means it works or has a useful function, and innovative means a new development or an improvement of an existing technology that would not have been obvious to someone working in the area of specialty, according to File a Canadian patent application: Before you start. To be granted a patent, the invention must be a product, a composition, a machine, a process, or an improvement on any of these, on the same page. The same criteria appear in IP Canada Report 2023 Appendix A, which adds that in Canada the first applicant to file a patent application is entitled to obtain the patent, and that a Canadian patent lasts for 20 years from the date it is filed.

Search before you spend anything. The Before you start page directs applicants to search patent databases to find out if the invention, or a similar one, has been patented already, naming the Canadian Patents Database, PATENTSCOPE, Google Patents, patent databases at a local library, and internet searches using "patent" as a keyword, and to search other relevant databases in the field of the invention, naming MEDLINE for biotechnology applications and IEEE for electrical applications. A search does not decide patentability — that is the examiner's work after an examination request — but it is the step CIPO puts before filing, and it is where a close earlier patent or publication first shows up.

Two timing facts belong in this step, because they shape when to file rather than how. First, the Before you start page states that, in general, an application will be available in the publicly accessible Canadian Patents Database 18 months after the filing date or earliest priority date, and that an applicant can request that it be open to public inspection earlier than the 18-month period of confidentiality. Filing therefore means eventual public disclosure of the description. Second, the IP Canada Report appendix states that any public disclosure of an invention before filing may make it impossible to obtain a patent, with an exception in Canada and the United States where the disclosure was made by the inventor, or by someone who learned of the invention from the inventor, less than one year before filing. Do not treat that exception as a filing strategy: the appendix also warns that in some countries, disclosing the invention to the public before filing may in many circumstances prevent the inventor from obtaining a patent. This guide states the published position only and gives no advice on any particular disclosure.

2. Decide whether a patent agent must be appointed, or should be

CIPO states three cases where a patent agent must be hired. You must hire a patent agent if the application is filed by someone other than the inventor, if there is more than one inventor and the application is not filed jointly by all of the inventors, or if a transfer of the application has been recorded with the office, according to File a Canadian patent application: Before you start. The same requirement appears in the application checklist on File a Canadian patent application: Complete your application, which states how an agent is appointed: a statement clearly appointing an agent, with the agent's name and address, in the petition or in a separate document signed by the applicant, or by the common representative where there are joint applicants.

Even where no agent is required, CIPO advises considering one. The Before you start page states that preparing and filing a patent application is not easy and can be time consuming, that patent agents understand patent and intellectual property laws and the application process, and that an agent must be licensed. If you use an agent, the same page lists the statement to prepare for the agent: the field of invention, a broad description, objectives and practical advantages over existing practices or products, preferred practice with at least one practical application, new and distinct features, scope, limitations, laboratory or commercial test results, lists of existing relevant patents or technical articles with similarities and differences, disclosure of people already told about the invention, personal information including name, address and citizenship, and other jurisdictions where a patent is sought. Prepare that statement before engaging an agent, not after: it is the material the agent works from.

3. Prepare the complete application: petition, description, claims, abstract and drawings

CIPO recommends filling out all portions of the patent application when filing, even though a filing date is possible without a complete application, as File a Canadian patent application: Get a filing date states. The checklist on File a Canadian patent application: Complete your application lists what the application must include, and each part below follows that page only:

• Petition. The formal request for a patent, including the title of the patent, the applicant's name and address, and the names and addresses of co-applicants if applicable. Filing online through MyCIPO Patents auto-generates the petition from the data entered in the portal.
• Statement of entitlement. One of three statements must be provided: the applicant or applicants are entitled to apply for a patent, the applicant is the sole inventor of the subject matter, or the applicants are all inventors and the sole inventors of the subject matter. The statement goes in the petition or in a separate document.
• Inventor information. The names and addresses of all inventors must be provided.
• Abstract. A short summary of 150 words or fewer describing the invention and saying how it can be used, mainly used for searching patent databases. The abstract should describe the main parts of the invention and how they work, avoid referring to claims or other parts of the application, and be written so that those with a background in the field can easily understand it.
• Claims. The legal foundation of the patent: the claims form a boundary around the patent defining the invention. Each claim should have only one meaning, broad or narrow but not both, and claims must be clear, complete and supported by the description. A claim is a single sentence in three parts: a preamble naming the category of the invention, a body listing the main parts, and a transitional phrase such as "comprising" or "consisting of" joining them.
• Description. The description must answer what the invention is and how it works, clearly enough that someone else could make and use the invention using only the description. It must be complete and full, because nothing new can be added to the application once it has been filed: any later change must stay in line with what was originally there. Start with general background information, then move to more detailed information about the invention and its parts.
• Drawings. Include a drawing wherever possible; where an invention cannot be illustrated with drawings, photographs showing the invention may be included. Drawings must show every feature of the invention defined by the claims and follow CIPO's standards for page size and quality. Do not submit models and specimens of the invention.
• Sequence listing, if applicable. Where the description contains the sequence of a new protein or nucleic acid, the application must contain a sequence listing, formatted to international standards.

Three conditional items complete the checklist. A small entity declaration, where applicable, declares that the small entity condition in the Patent Rules has been met; it is provided in the petition or a separate document, needs to be provided only once, and, to benefit from the reduced fees, CIPO recommends submitting it when filing, after which applicants are eligible to pay fees at the small entity level on or after the date the declaration is submitted. A common representative appointment document, where there is more than one applicant, appoints a common representative from among the applicants; if none is appointed, one will be deemed appointed. A priority claim, where an application for the same invention was previously filed, requires the application number, country or office of filing, and filing date of the previously filed application, plus, for a non-Canadian application, a copy with a certificate showing the filing date or access through the World Intellectual Property Organization's Digital Access Service with the access code.

Formatting is part of completeness. For submissions through MyCIPO Patents, each part of the application needs to be in a separate file, on the same Complete your application page. Text margins are 2.0 cm at the top, bottom and right and 2.5 cm at the left; capital letters must be at least 0.21 cm high, with a 12 pt font usually enough; description and claims text is spaced 1.5 lines apart; pages of the description and claims are numbered in order. Drawing margins are 2.5 cm at the top and left, 1.5 cm at the right and 1.0 cm at the bottom; drawings are in black and white, with well defined, dense and dark lines, hatching for cross-sections, and parts drawn in proportion to each other. The page states these requirements in full; a file that ignores them is not a complete application in CIPO's sense, even if every document is present.

4. Set up sign-in: a My Canada Business Account reached with GCKey or a Sign-in Partner

Online filing runs through an account, and the account requirement is stated the same way on every CIPO filing page. To file a patent application and pay fees online, you need a My Canada Business Account, according to File a Canadian patent application: Get a filing date, and Online services and forms states that a My Canada Business Account is needed to log in to CIPO's online services. If you do not have an account, the filing page directs you to the login page to follow the steps to create one. Do not confuse this account with a CRA account: the patent filing pages name a My Canada Business Account, reached as described below, and name no CRA credential for this service.

The sign-in itself uses one of two credentials. MyCIPO Patents User Guide states that to access MyCIPO Patents, you sign in using a GCKey or a Sign-in Partner. A GCKey is a way to securely access Government of Canada online services, usable across multiple Government of Canada enabled services; if you choose it, you sign in with a GCKey username and password, and if you do not have a GCKey account you must create one by providing a username, a password and password recovery questions. A Sign-in Partner lets you access government services using your online banking credentials or a Sign-in Partner participating in the Interac sign-in service; you are temporarily taken to the Sign-in Partner's site and redirected back, and none of your banking or personally identifiable information is shared with the government services you are accessing, ISED or Corporations Canada, on the same page.

First sign-in asks one further question. The user guide states that the first time you sign in, you select one of two options: Option 1, where you are signing in on behalf of an organization or office but your account is not yet associated with them, which directs you to your My Canada Business Account page to request access; or Option 2, where you are not signing in on behalf of an organization or office and intend to file an application or submit correspondence on your own behalf. Choose Option 1 only if you are acting for a firm or office structure; an individual filing on their own behalf selects Option 2. Sorting this out before the filing session avoids a stalled submission: the organization and office structure, where one is used, is created in the back-end system by CIPO, not by the filer, according to the same guide.

5. File the regular application in MyCIPO Patents

MyCIPO Patents is the portal for this filing. MyCIPO Patents – What to expect lists filing new national applications — regular applications, divisional applications, and Patent Cooperation Treaty national entry requests — among the portal's key features, with saving drafts as Work in Progress, viewing submission history, and receiving immediate confirmation including an application number, payment receipt and confirmation of submission document on successful submission. The steps below follow section 5.2 of MyCIPO Patents User Guide for a regular application only; divisional applications and national entry requests use their own portal flows on the same guide and are not described here.

1. From the MyCIPO Patents home page, in the New application tile, click Regular application.
2. If you are authorized to act on behalf of an agent, select the office and the agent on whose behalf you are working for the current submission. Selecting an agent here does not appoint the agent on file; appointment happens in the PETITION tab below.
3. Enter the title of the invention and, if you have one, a reference number, then click Save.
4. Work through the PETITION tab: add each applicant, checking the box where the applicant is also an inventor, and indicate a common representative where joint applicants appoint one; add each inventor, checking the box where the inventor is also an applicant; select one statement of entitlement; appoint a patent agent and, where needed, an associate patent agent, noting that an associate agent can only be added after an agent; request priority where a previously filed application is relied on; select the small entity declaration where the applicant is entitled to pay fees as a small entity, uploading the declaration under the DOCUMENTS tab; and indicate a preferred figure where the application includes drawings, to accompany the abstract when the application is open for public inspection. Click Save on the tab.
5. Work through the DETAILS tab: confirm the reference number, select the language of the application, and select the preferred method of correspondence. Click Save.
6. The REFERENCE APPLICATION tab is not expected to be used for the majority of applications; it enables a reference statement in place of all or part of the specification or drawings, as permitted under subsection 27.01 of the Patent Act. Leave it unless that provision applies to the filing.
7. Work through the DOCUMENTS tab and upload each part as a separate file. Documents must be in .TIF, .TIFF or .PDF format, except sequence listings, which must be .TXT, .XML or .ZIP containing a single file. Each file must not exceed 200 MB, and file names may only include non-accented alphanumeric characters, hyphens, underscores, periods or whitespace. Select the document type from the drop-down menu — Abstract, Claims, Description, Drawings, Priority document, Sequence listing, Small entity declaration, and the other types listed for regular applications on the guide — upload the file, and click Save document for each one. Priority documents need the associated priority request selected from the Priority drop-down menu.
8. Work through the FEES tab: check the box if you wish to submit without payment of the application fee, select a general authorization statement for fees where one applies, and click Save. The applicable fees are displayed in the Applicable fees table after saving, showing a balance of zero where no fees are to be paid.
9. Click Review and Submit in the top right-hand corner, review the information displayed, and use Back to make changes. To submit with payment, click Submit and Pay: you are taken to a Government of Canada secure e-commerce system to complete the transaction using either a credit card or a CIPO deposit account, where available. To submit without payment, click Submit. After submission, the application details, confirmation of submission and, where paid, the payment receipt are available from the SUBMISSION HISTORY tab on the MyCIPO Patents home page.

Save drafts rather than rushing a submission. The portal's Work in Progress tab shows drafts that have not yet been submitted, and the user guide describes viewing, editing and deleting drafts there. A draft is not a filing: no filing date attaches until the application is submitted, and the minimum contents in step 6 are judged on what is submitted, not what is saved.

Other ways to file exist, and CIPO publishes them on the same filing pages, but they are not the e-filing service this guide describes. By mail or in person, physical deliveries go to the Commissioner of Patents, Canadian Intellectual Property Office, Place du Portage I, 50 Victoria Street, room C-114, Gatineau, QC K1A 0C9, with the Fee form recommended for payment; by fax, to 819-953-2476 or 819-953-6742, with the electronic transmittal report as the acknowledgment receipt and no guarantee of confidentiality, according to File a Canadian patent application: Get a filing date. The main office is open Monday to Friday from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm Eastern Time, except statutory holidays, on the same page. Online sessions time out after 30 minutes with no activity, so prepare files and fee details before starting the portal session.

6. Secure the filing date and pay the fees

The filing date is the prize of the submission, and CIPO defines the minimum that earns it. At a minimum, the application must provide an indication that a patent is sought for the invention, information allowing the applicant to be identified with co-applicants where applicable, applicant contact information with co-applicants' contact information where applicable, and a description of the invention in any language, according to File a Canadian patent application: Get a filing date. If the application does not meet the minimum, CIPO will let the applicant know what information is missing, with 2 months to respond. A response by the deadline makes the filing date the latest date CIPO received the last missing document that was required to establish a filing date; no response by the deadline means the application is deemed never to have been filed. Where the description was submitted in a language other than English or French, CIPO will send a notice asking for a translation, with 2 months from the date of notice to provide it, on the same page.

Pay the application fee at filing where possible. The application fee is not a requirement to obtain a filing date, but if it is not paid at filing it is considered late, and a late fee must be paid along with the application fee, on the same page. The 2026 amounts on Patent fees are $241.24 for a small entity and $595.06 at the standard rate for the application fee, and $150.00 for the late fee at both rates, all in Canadian dollars. The fees page states that the amount payable depends on the date the fee is received by the Commissioner, not the date the service was requested or the prescribed date to pay, and that certain fees increased by 2.7% on January 1, 2026 in accordance with the Service Fees Act. Where the application fee was not paid at filing, File a Canadian patent application: Submit the complete application states that CIPO sends a notice telling the applicant which fees to pay, with 3 months from the notice date to pay or the application will be withdrawn. Online, fees can only be paid by credit card or CIPO deposit account. By mail, in person or by fax, the accepted methods also include cheques or money orders and wire transfers, with a debit card accepted only at CIPO headquarters, according to the filing-date page.

Keep the fee picture wider than the single filing payment. The fees page lists maintenance fees for keeping an application in effect, starting at $60.26 for a small entity and $134.02 at the standard rate for each of the second, third and fourth anniversaries of the filing date, rising in bands to $271.26 and $669.05 for the fifteenth to nineteenth anniversaries and $410.80 and $1,027.00 for the twentieth and each subsequent anniversary. It also lists examination fees, a final fee of $181.20 for a small entity and $446.03 at the standard rate plus $8.58 per page of specification and drawings beyond 100 pages, and a reinstatement fee of $297.00. Check the current fee amounts on the fees page at the time of filing rather than relying on any figure carried from an earlier year: the page states that fee amounts shown in the Tariff of Fees of the Patent Rules may not be up to date, while the amounts on the fees page are.

7. After filing: certificate, publication, examination request and maintenance

After submission, wait for the filing certificate. If the application meets the filing requirements, CIPO will send a filing certificate including the filing date and the patent application number, and a certificate should arrive within 15 business days of CIPO receiving the application, according to File a Canadian patent application: Get a filing date. The certificate means the application is pending; it does not guarantee that a patent will be granted, on the same page. In MyCIPO Patents, the confirmation of submission is available immediately in Submission history, which is not the same document as the filing certificate: the first confirms the portal received the submission, the second confirms the filing requirements are met.

Publication follows on CIPO's timetable, not the applicant's. As stated in step 1, the application will generally be available in the publicly accessible Canadian Patents Database 18 months after the filing date or earliest priority date, according to File a Canadian patent application: Before you start, and IP Canada Report 2023 Appendix A states the same 18-month period of confidentiality. Applications subject to section 20 of the Patent Act, concerning items of national security, are not published, on the Before you start page.

Examination must be requested; it does not begin automatically. The Before you start page states that examination must be requested within 4 years from the filing date, or 5 years if the filing date was before October 30, 2019, and that a request can be made at the earliest when the application is filed, placing it in the queue for examination. The filing-date page adds that where no request for examination is made and the fee is not paid at filing, the request can be made within the prescribed time through MyCIPO Patents. CIPO sends no reminder that an examination request is due: Stoppage of 2 CIPO patent reminder notices states that CIPO no longer sends letters reminding applicants that a request for examination must be filed by a certain date, and that the applicant must submit a formal request for examination and pay the prescribed fee within 4 years of the filing date. Note that date at filing; no letter will prompt it.

Maintenance fees keep the application, and later the patent, in effect. Annual maintenance fees must be paid starting on the second anniversary of the filing date — for example, an application filed on January 31, 2022 has its first maintenance fee due on January 31, 2024 — according to File a Canadian patent application: Submit the complete application. CIPO will not send reminder letters about an approaching maintenance fee due date, the full fee must be paid on or before the due date, a late fee must also be paid where it is not, and the late fee can never be waived, on the same page. The same stoppage notice confirms that annual patent maintenance fee reminder notices are no longer sent. Maintenance fees can be paid through MyCIPO Patents on a single application or patent or on multiple applications or patents, according to MyCIPO Patents – What to expect. Keep the filing certificate, the submission confirmation and the payment receipts together: the application number, filing date and fee history on those documents are what every later submission, examination request and maintenance payment refers back to.

Related guides:

• How to Start as an Inventor in Canada — the inventor's overview of patent and trademark protection, searching, and the grace period; this guide covers the CIPO e-filing steps for the patent application itself
• How to Get a Business Number in Canada: the CRA BN Explained — obtaining a business number for a business; this guide covers the separate My Canada Business Account sign-in used for CIPO's patent services
• How to Start Using CRA My Business Account in Canada — the CRA account for business tax services, a different account from the My Canada Business Account used to reach MyCIPO Patents; this guide covers the patent filing service only
• How to Start Filing with Corporations Canada's Online Filing Centre in Canada — federal corporation filings through a separate ISED online filing centre; this guide covers patent filings through CIPO's portal
• How to Incorporate Federally vs Provincially in Canada — choosing the incorporation route for a business; this guide covers protecting an invention through a patent application, not incorporating the business behind it

Sources

• Canadian Intellectual Property Office, File a Canadian patent application: Before you start — what can be patented, database searching, when a patent agent must be hired, the 4-year examination request period, and 18-month publication
• Canadian Intellectual Property Office, File a Canadian patent application: Get a filing date — the minimum requirements for a filing date, the 2-month cure period, fees and online payment methods, the My Canada Business Account requirement, other ways to file, the filing certificate, translations and late fees
• Canadian Intellectual Property Office, File a Canadian patent application: Complete your application — the application checklist, small entity declaration, agent and priority requirements, and text and drawing formatting
• Canadian Intellectual Property Office, File a Canadian patent application: Submit the complete application — the 3-month fee notice period, maintenance fees from the second anniversary, no reminder letters, and the late maintenance fee rule
• Canadian Intellectual Property Office, Patent fees — the 2026 application, late, examination, maintenance and final fee amounts, small entity versus standard rates, and the fee-adjustment rule
• Canadian Intellectual Property Office, MyCIPO Patents User Guide — GCKey and Sign-in Partner sign-in, first-login options, and the step-by-step regular application flow with document types, file requirements and payment
• Canadian Intellectual Property Office, MyCIPO Patents – What to expect — the MyCIPO Patents launch, key features including immediate confirmation, and Canadian patent e-filing kept as an alternative
• Canadian Intellectual Property Office, Online services and forms — the My Canada Business Account requirement for CIPO online services and the listing of MyCIPO Patents and patent e-filing
• Canadian Intellectual Property Office, Stoppage of 2 CIPO patent reminder notices — no reminder letters for maintenance fees or examination requests, and the 4-year examination request duty
• Canadian Intellectual Property Office, IP Canada Report 2023 Appendix A — the 20-year patent term, the 18-month confidentiality period, the new, useful and inventive criteria, first-to-file, and the disclosure exception

No figure in this guide was carried from a secondary source. The following were cut because they could not be verified on an official page: 2027 patent fee amounts and any 2027 adjustment percentage, since only the 2026 amounts are stated in this guide; the timing of the first examiner's report, the period to respond to an examiner's report, and the period to pay the final fee after a notice of allowance, since those figures could not be verified on an official page; Patent Cooperation Treaty national-entry and priority-claim deadlines, since no official page states them; any 2-step verification requirement for MyCIPO Patents sign-in, since no official page stating it could be verified; the steps and screens of the legacy Canadian patent e-filing tool, since only its listing and its status as a kept alternative are stated in this guide; any count of documents in the Canadian Patents Database; and the exceptions to the small entity condition beyond the fewer-than-100-employees and university description on the fees page. Check the CIPO pages linked above, or the Patent fees page for current amounts, before relying on any of those points.