How to Start Registering an Industrial Design Through CIPO's E-Filing Service in Canada

The Canadian Intellectual Property Office, known as CIPO, registers industrial designs in Canada. An industrial design protects how a finished article looks, not what it is made of, how it is made, or how it works, according to Industrial designs guide. The same guide gives the contour of a car hood, the graphical user interface on a phone, and the shape or pattern of shoes as examples, and states that the Industrial Design Act confers an exclusive right for three-dimensional features of shape and configuration and two-dimensional features of pattern and ornament, including colour, applied to a finished article, for up to 15 years. This guide walks through the national route only: checking the design, preparing the representation and application contents, signing in, filing through CIPO's industrial design e-filing service, paying the fee, and what follows filing.

State plainly what this guide does not do. It describes the published registration process only. It gives no advice on whether any particular design is novel, no guidance on how a representation should be drawn beyond CIPO's published requirements, and no legal advice. Where a filing decision turns on the facts of a design, that decision belongs to the applicant and, where one is appointed, an agent — not to this guide. Work through the steps in order: the representation filed in step 2 is the design the examiner judges, and later changes cannot alter the design in any substantial way.

How this filing differs from CIPO's patent, trademark, and copyright filings

CIPO's own guide draws the subject-matter line, and the filing steps follow it. Industrial designs guide states that patents cover new and useful inventions (product, composition, machine, process) or a new and useful improvement to an existing invention; trademarks can be words, sounds, or designs used to distinguish the goods or services of one person or organization from those of others; and copyrights provide protection for original literary, artistic, dramatic, or musical works, including computer programs, and other subject matter such as performers' performances, sound recordings, and communication signals. An industrial design covers none of those things as such: it covers the visual features of shape, configuration, pattern, or ornament, or a combination of them, applied to a finished article, judged by the eye. The same guide notes that the rights can co-exist in one product — a smartwatch shape under an industrial design, its functions under a patent, its brand name under a trademark, and a marketing video under copyright — so filing one type does not file the others.

The process differs in the same direction. The industrial design application CIPO describes has no petition, no claims, no abstract, and no description in the patent sense: its core is the representation, the name of the finished article, and the applicant's name and postal address. Examination follows once a filing date is set, with no separate examination request step of the kind the patent process requires, and no goods-or-services classes of the kind a trademark application carries. The e-filing service differs too: this filing runs through the Industrial Design E-Services application named in the guide, not through MyCIPO Patents, and the fee structure has no small-entity tier. Do not carry steps, fees, or timelines from the sibling CIPO guides into this filing.

1. Confirm the design fits, search for similar designs, and mind the disclosure clock

Start with what can and cannot be protected. Industrial designs guide states that an idea, a method of construction, the materials used in the construction of an article, and the function of an article are not protected as industrial designs in Canada. Protection reaches the whole finished article or part of it. A registered design gives the owner an exclusive right to prevent others from making, selling, renting, and importing for commercial purposes in Canada an article embodying a design that is the same, or substantially similar to, the registered design. CIPO grants registrations; it does not police exclusive rights or monitor the marketplace for infringement, and the guide recommends consulting an intellectual property professional if a registered design is copied.

Only the proprietor can apply. The guide states that the proprietor of an industrial design is the only person who can apply for its registration, that the creator is the proprietor unless hired to create the design by another entity, and that in the hired case the other entity is the proprietor. Settle who the proprietor is before filing, because the application must carry the applicant's name and postal address and CIPO communicates with the applicant, or with an appointed agent, only.

Canada runs a first-to-file system for designs. The guide states that CIPO will grant an exclusive right to the first person who files the application to register a design, regardless of when the design was created, and that filing first blocks others from registering an identical or substantially similar design, while filing second may block registration outright. Novelty is the test at examination: CIPO will only register a design if it is novel, meaning the identical or substantially similar design has not been disclosed to the public, in Canada or elsewhere. A public disclosure starts a clock rather than ending the matter at once: the guide states a 12-month grace period allows filing after disclosure without the disclosure preventing registration, and File or amend an application online states the same limit in filing terms — if a design has never been published there is no time limit, and if it has been published the application must be filed within 12 months of publication or the exclusive rights are lost. Treat the grace period as a deadline, not a plan: a disclosure by someone else, or a disclosure more than 12 months before filing, is outside the protection the guide describes.

Search before filing. The guide calls a search of existing industrial designs a good first step to assess whether a design is novel, and names the Canadian Industrial Designs Database, which it states is simple and free of charge, shows designs registered in Canada, lets the searcher see how others prepared applications including images, and holds records of all industrial designs filed and registered in Canada dating back to 1861. Search by classification code, classification text, client reference number, court order number, description, finished article, interested parties, international registration number, national application or registration number, and proprietor, on the guide's list. The guide also names the WIPO Intellectual Property Digital Library for intellectual property data collections hosted by WIPO. A search does not decide novelty — the examiner conducts a prior-art search at examination — but it is where a close earlier design first shows up, and it shows the standard of representation other applicants met.

One timing fact belongs in this step because it shapes launch planning. The guide states that applications are kept confidential until the earlier of registration and 30 months after the date of filing or priority, after which the contents become available to the public, and that an applicant may wish to delay registration so the product is ready to launch at the same time. Section 6 below covers the delay request and its fee. Do not publish the design, or let it be published, on an assumption about confidentiality that the guide does not state.

2. Prepare the representation and the application contents

The representation is the application in substance. Industrial designs guide states that an application must include at least one representation of the design in the form of a reproduction (drawing) or photograph, that the representation must fully disclose the features of the design, and that as many reproductions or photographs as needed may be used to disclose those features properly. A design may be shown in isolation or as applied to the finished article. The representation must be of sufficient quality to permit the features to be identified clearly and accurately. Number each view by one of two methods the guide sets out: two numbers separated by a dot (for example 1.1, 1.2, 1.3), where the first number references the design and the second represents the different views; or a single number representing each view (for example 1, 2, 3). Where an application contains multiple views, the guide recommends including a figure reference, for example "Figure 1.1 is the front view of the glasses". Colour is a feature the Act covers, as noted in the introduction: the guide states the exclusive right covers pattern and ornament including colour, so a representation in colour claims colour as part of the design as shown, and a black-and-white representation does not carry a colour claim the drawings do not show. This guide states only what the guide states about colour; it gives no drafting advice on whether colour should be claimed in any particular case.

CIPO does not require a particular application form, but the guide states the following content is mandatory: the name and postal address of the applicant, and the name of the finished article, with the representation described above. The finished article name should use the name generally known and understood by consumers, for example "car". When doing business with CIPO the applicant must provide name and postal address; if an agent is appointed, CIPO sends communications to that agent, and if no agent is appointed, CIPO communicates only with the applicant.

Four optional contents apply where the facts call for them, each from the same guide:

• Descriptive statement. A brief statement describing the representation or features of the design, which may indicate if a particular feature is important, for example "The most significant feature of the design is the appearance of the rose at the base of the handle". Any feature referenced in the descriptive statement must be visible in the reproductions or photographs, and the statement must not refer to a utilitarian function or a method or principle of manufacture or construction.
• Statement of limitation. An application is deemed to relate to all features of shape, configuration, pattern, and ornament shown in the representation unless it contains a statement limiting the design to one or some of those features. The statement must clearly describe which features are claimed and must not create alternatives that may lead to ambiguity about scope. The guide's acceptable example is "The design is limited to the features of shape and configuration", and a statement may also limit the application to part of an article and some features, for example the table top only, with the legs not forming part of the design. Instead of a statement, a design may be limited with dotted or broken lines: CIPO considers that an application does not relate to a feature shown in dotted or broken lines, unless indicated otherwise.
• Priority claim. Canada is a signatory to the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property. The guide states that an applicant who files for the same design in another Paris Convention member country within six months of the filing date of an earlier filing gets a priority date equal to the earlier filing date, so novelty is assessed as of that earlier date. The guide's example runs from a United States filing date of December 6, 2018, with until June 6, 2019 to file in Canada and claim priority. Include the priority claim in the application where one is relied on; do not assume a foreign filing date carries over without the claim.
• Divisional indication. A divisional application may be filed for any design applied to a finished article disclosed in the original application on its filing date, where the finished article was also disclosed in the original application, and divisional applications are available for both national and Hague applications. The guide strongly advises indicating that an application is a divisional when it is filed, to facilitate processing.

Prepare the fee with the contents. The guide states a fee must be paid for filing, payable once, adjusted each January 1, with the amount depending on the date payment is received by the Minister even if the application was filed before the adjustment. The amounts are set out in step 5. An application with more than 10 reproductions carries the additional per-reproduction fee on the fees page, so count views and photographs before filing rather than after.

3. Decide whether to appoint an agent

Hiring an agent is not mandatory but is recommended by CIPO. Industrial designs guide states that preparing and prosecuting an application is a complex process requiring knowledge of industrial design law and office practices, involving correspondence with CIPO, actions within strict timelines, and any necessary changes to the application, and that the vast majority of applications filed in Canada benefit from the services of an intellectual property professional. The guide puts two drafting questions to the applicant that an agent answers in practice: whether only the shape should be protected, and whether part of the design should be disclaimed or the whole design protected. An agent will make sure the application is properly drafted so the design is adequately protected, on the guide's words.

Appointment has a consequence once made. If an agent is appointed, the applicant must use that agent to prosecute the application, and CIPO will only accept instructions from that agent, to avoid receiving different or conflicting instructions. For an agent to be considered appointed, CIPO must receive a notice of appointment indicating the name and postal address of the appointed agent. An applicant may change agent at any time or choose not to have one any more. There is no patent-style mandatory-agent list in the design guide: the guide states no case in which an agent must be hired, only the recommendation above. Do not import the patent guide's three mandatory-agent cases into this filing.

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 industrial design e-filing page. File or amend an application online states that you need a My Canada Business Account to log in to CIPO's online services, and directs applicants without an account to the login page to follow the steps to create one. Online services and forms states the same requirement for CIPO's online services generally, listing the industrial design services under the heading "Industrial designs" as online services with an account required: file or amend an application, pay maintenance fees, manage an E-Access application, access an E-Mailbox, and general correspondence.

The sign-in credential is a GCKey or a Sign-in Partner credential, used to reach the My Canada Business Account. Login process for CIPO online services states that after the one-time migration process, sign-in uses either a GCKey, a unique electronic credential issued by the Government of Canada, or the Interac sign-in service (Sign-in Partner) using Canadian online banking credentials; that each individual must have their own unique GCKey or Sign-in Partner credentials for connecting to CIPO online services; and that a mandatory 2-step verification step has been added as an extra layer of security. The same page describes the migration in three steps: select new login credentials, link an existing CIPO client profile to the My Canada Business Account, and set up 2-step verification. Existing account holders follow that migration path rather than creating a second profile: the page states migration maintains access to an existing online intellectual property portfolio and account history.

Do not confuse the credential with a CRA credential. Choose your secure login provider states in plain terms that a GCKey login is not a CRA login, that a GCKey can be used to access multiple Government of Canada online services, and that signing in with an existing GCKey account or signing up to create one leads to a page to sign in or create an ISED account, which links the account and returns the user to the service requested. The Sign-in Partner route on the same page uses the Interac sign-in service through an online bank, with no passwords or other personal information disclosed. Sort out sign-in and 2-step verification before the filing session: the e-filing page states the system logs the user out automatically after 30 minutes of inactivity, for security reasons, and a stalled sign-in inside that window wastes the session.

5. File through the industrial design e-filing service and pay the fees

The e-filing service is the route this guide describes. Industrial designs guide states that an applicant may apply through CIPO's Industrial Design E-Services application, and File or amend an application online is the service page for filing or amending an application online, reached from the login link on that page. The same service page states that the online service also enables amending an existing application, reinstating an application, withdrawing or amending priority claim information, and paying fees, and that an applicant may respond to office actions or file amendments electronically. Use the e-filing service for the new application, and the same service for later amendments and fee payments, rather than starting a fresh paper file for each step.

File in this order:

1. Sign in with the My Canada Business Account credential from step 4, and check the system and browser requirements linked from the service page before entering data, since the service page directs applicants to review them.
2. Enter the applicant name and postal address, the name of the finished article, and the representation, with the optional descriptive statement, statement of limitation, priority claim, divisional indication, and agent details from step 2 where each applies. The service page does not publish a screen-by-screen walkthrough of the e-form on the pages, so this guide states the contents CIPO requires rather than inventing screen names or button labels for the form.
3. Pay the filing fee online. The service page states payment online uses a credit card or a deposit account. The guide lists the wider set of payment methods for filing generally, set out in the FAQ, but the e-filing page names only credit card and deposit account for the online route, so do not expect a cheque or money-order option inside the online form.
4. Submit before the 30-minute inactivity logout, and keep the submission confirmation and any payment receipt. The service page states no confirmation timing for the e-filing submission itself; the Notice of Filing timing in step 6 comes from CIPO's roadmap, stated there as within 20 business days.

The fees are the 2026 and 2027 amounts on Fees for industrial designs, all in Canadian dollars. The basic fee for filing an application is $607.93 for 2026 and $618.26 for 2027. The additional fee for each photograph or graphic reproduction in excess of 10 is $15.01 for 2026 and $15.27 for 2027. The page states that certain fees increase by 1.7% on January 1, 2027 in accordance with the Service Fees Act, that not all fees are subject to annual adjustment, and that the amount payable depends on the date the fee is received by the Minister, not the date the service was originally requested — so a filing made in December with a fee received in January pays the January amount. The guide adds that no federal or provincial taxes are added to the filing fee. Later fees on the same page, for use after filing, are: maintenance of the exclusive right $531.80 (2026) and $540.84 (2027), plus a $63.00 late maintenance fee in both years; recording or registering a transfer $125.00 per application or registration; reinstatement of an abandoned application $304.51 (2026) and $309.69 (2027); processing a request to advance examination $760.19 (2026) and $773.11 (2027); and delaying registration $125.00 in both years. Check the fees page at filing time rather than relying on any figure carried from an earlier year: the page states the Tariff of Fees in the Industrial Design Regulations may not be up to date, while CIPO's website and correspondence will be updated.

A paper route exists, and CIPO publishes it on the same guide page, but it is not the e-filing service this guide describes. Paper applications go by mail to the Industrial Design Office, Canadian Intellectual Property Office, Place du Portage I, 50 Victoria Street, Room C-114, Gatineau QC K1A 0C9, according to Industrial designs guide. The paper address does not change the contents required, the fee, or the examination that follows; it changes only how the application reaches CIPO.

6. After filing: filing notice, classification, examination, registration, and maintenance

Initial processing comes first. Industrial designs guide states that CIPO reviews the application to make sure the basic requirements to establish a filing date have been met, that a compliant application receives a Notice of Filing informing the applicant of the filing date and the application number to reference in subsequent correspondence, and that an incomplete application receives an Omission Notice with two months to provide the missing details. CIPO's IP roadmap: Your path to industrial design registration states that a notice of filing is provided within 20 business days. Quote the application number from the Notice of Filing in every later submission: it is the reference CIPO uses to tie correspondence, amendments, and fee payments to the file.

Examination follows without a separate request. After a filing date is established, the guide states the application is classified according to the particular type of article to which the design is applied, and an examiner reviews the application to check that all formalities are met and that the design, taking into account the representation, the name of the finished article, and any statement, is sufficiently disclosed, so a novelty assessment can be conducted and so the application relates to only one design or variants — designs that do not differ substantially from one another. Once formality requirements are met and the scope of the design is clear, the design is compared with pending, registered, and published designs in Canada and elsewhere for similarities, and the whole application is reviewed against the relevant prior art to determine whether the design is novel. After examination the application is either approved for registration or the applicant receives an Examination Report outlining the examiner's objections and the changes needed.

Answer an Examination Report in writing within three months. The guide states the response may amend the application to overcome the objections, or provide arguments where the applicant does not agree with them, and that CIPO may be contacted for clarification about the report. Changes to a statement or to the representation, whether voluntary or in response to a report, cannot change the design in any substantial way; changes that do so will be rejected. CIPO's roadmap states that an extension of time of 6 months to respond to a specific report may be requested, provided the request is made before the end of the deadline, and that the applicant can request accelerated examination on written request and payment of the required fee, with a prior-art search conducted 6 months from the priority date where a priority claim is made. This guide states those roadmap points as roadmap points, since the guide itself states the 3-month response period and the advanced-examination fee without setting out the extension procedure in full.

Refusal follows only after repeated reports. The guide states that where objections are not overcome after responding to multiple Examination Reports, CIPO issues a Final Examination Report maintaining the objections, that final arguments must reach CIPO within three months after the date of that report, that the application is then reviewed by a subject-matter expert from CIPO, and that if the objections are still not overcome the application will be considered for refusal, after which no arguments or amendments may be submitted. A refused application may be appealed to the Federal Court of Canada. There is no opposition stage in the examination process the guide describes: do not import the trademark opposition step into this filing.

Registration, when approved, proceeds as soon as possible. The guide states CIPO issues a Notice of Industrial Design Registration including the representation of the design, a Registration Details Report, and a Notice to Proprietors regarding maintenance of the exclusive right, and that information about the registered design is entered in the Register of Industrial Designs, a certified copy of which is admissible as evidence in any court. The term begins on the registration date and ends on the later of 10 years after registration and 15 years from the Canadian filing date. Maintenance is a single payment: the fee must be paid no later than five years after the registration date to keep the exclusive right for its complete duration, with a six-month late window on payment of the additional late fee, after which the right expires at the end of the five-year term. Pay maintenance through the same online services: Online services and forms lists paying maintenance fees among the industrial design online services requiring an account.

Two optional requests sit alongside registration. First, delay: the roadmap states registration may be delayed by 30 months from the filing date, or earliest priority date if a priority claim is made, on written request and payment of the required fee, which the fees page lists at $125.00; the guide's confidentiality period runs to the same 30-month point. Second, accelerated examination: the fees page lists the advanced-examination processing fee at $760.19 for 2026 and $773.11 for 2027. Neither request is part of the standard filing in steps 1 to 5, and neither is assumed in the timeline in the visuals block.

After registration, two practical steps close the file. Marking: the guide recommends marking products to show their designs are registered, with the proper mark a capital "D" inside a circle and the name or abbreviation of the design's owner on the article, its label, or packaging, because correct marking can establish that an infringer should have known the design was registered. Correspondence: communications from the Industrial Design Office are available electronically through CIPO's secure E-Mailbox application, and Electronic communications: E-Mailbox application sets out a three-step process — inform the Office that electronic correspondence is preferred, by selecting it in the appropriate section when submitting an e-filing application or later through general correspondence; confirm authentication through the E-Access application; and log in to E-Mailbox using a My Canada Business Account. Electronic correspondence is optional, and the E-Mailbox step does not replace the filing itself.

Related guides:

• How to Start Filing a Patent Application Through CIPO's E-Filing Service in Canada — the patent filing through MyCIPO Patents, with a petition, claims, abstract, and an examination request; this guide covers the industrial design filing, where the representation is the core and examination follows the filing date
• How to Start Filing a Trademark Through CIPO's E-Filing Service in Canada — the trademark filing with goods-or-services classes and its own examination and publication steps; this guide covers the industrial design filing, with no classes and no opposition stage in the process CIPO describes
• How to Start Registering a Copyright Through CIPO's E-Filing Service in Canada — the copyright registration through CIPO's e-form; this guide covers the industrial design registration, where novelty examination and a representation decide the outcome
• How to Start as an Inventor in Canada — the inventor's overview of patent and trademark protection and searching; this guide covers the CIPO e-filing steps for an industrial design specifically

Sources

• Canadian Intellectual Property Office, Industrial designs guide — what an industrial design protects, how it differs from patents, trademarks, and copyright, who can apply, first-to-file, the 12-month grace period, searching, application contents, representation requirements, priority and divisional rules, the agent recommendation, examination, refusal, registration, term, maintenance, Hague route, marking, and enforcement
• Canadian Intellectual Property Office, Fees for industrial designs — the 2026 and 2027 filing, reproduction, maintenance, late, transfer, reinstatement, advanced-examination, and delay fees, the January 1 adjustment rule, and the date-received payment rule
• Canadian Intellectual Property Office, File or amend an application online — the 12-month publication limit, the e-filing service functions, online payment by credit card or deposit account, the My Canada Business Account requirement, and the 30-minute inactivity logout
• Canadian Intellectual Property Office, Online services and forms — the My Canada Business Account requirement for CIPO online services and the list of industrial design online services, including filing, maintenance fees, E-Access, E-Mailbox, and general correspondence
• Canadian Intellectual Property Office, Login process for CIPO online services — GCKey and Sign-in Partner credentials, unique credentials per individual, the My Canada Business Account link, and mandatory 2-step verification
• Canadian Intellectual Property Office, Choose your secure login provider — GCKey and Sign-in Partner sign-in choices, and the statement that a GCKey login is not a CRA login
• Canadian Intellectual Property Office, Electronic communications: E-Mailbox application — the three-step E-Mailbox process, the My Canada Business Account requirement, and the 30-minute logout
• Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, Canadian Industrial Designs Database — the database the guide names for searching registered Canadian designs
• Canadian Intellectual Property Office, IP roadmap: Your path to industrial design registration — Direct filing with the Canadian Intellectual Property Office — the filing-contents list, the 20-business-day notice of filing, the 6-month extension request, accelerated examination, the 30-month registration delay, and the registration and maintenance sequence

Figures not stated in this guide: no figure in this guide was carried from a secondary source. The following are not stated because they could not be verified on an official CIPO page: any average or typical time from filing to registration or to a first examination report, since no such time could be verified on an official page; the screen-by-screen steps, field names, and file-format or file-size limits of the industrial design e-form, since the e-filing instructions page publishes no such walkthrough — check the user guide for the screen steps; any 2028 fee amount or 2028 adjustment percentage, since no 2028 fee list could be verified on an official page; the procedure and deadline for requesting a delay of registration beyond the roadmap statement and the $125.00 fee, since the full request steps could not be verified on an official page; the procedure for requesting a 6-month extension of time beyond the roadmap statement, since the guide states only the 3-month response period; Hague System designation fees in Swiss francs for a Canadian designation, since the guide states only that Hague fees are paid in Swiss francs to WIPO and no Hague fee schedule could be verified on an official page; any count of designs in the Canadian Industrial Designs Database beyond the guide's statement that records date back to 1861; and any requirement for a power of attorney or agent appointment form beyond the notice of appointment described in the guide.