Canadian Patent Law - Subject Matter

Subject Matter

There are number of matters that cannot be patented. Among such matters include certain new plant matters, some types of computer programs, and medical treatments within the body (diagnoses based on, for example, blood tests, are patentable).

The list of prohibited matters notably differs from the United States. With respect to patents for software, while mere algorithms are not patentable per se (mere algorithms may be protected by Canadian copyright law), software may be protected by Canadian patent law if it meets the traditional criteria for patentability (that is, it must be new, non-obvious and useful). In other words, if for example the software is new and non-obvious, it would be patentable in Canada if the software directly provided a functional real world useful result (and not merely the calculation of a mere algorithm).