Intellectual Property

Under Canadian law, there are four categories of intellectual property: copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets, and patents. For the burgeoning psychedelics industry, all types of intellectual property will be important and valuable, but none more so than patents which can protect new psychedelic compounds, derivatives, cultivation processes, and related technologies.

Canadian Patent Law

Canadian patents are governed under the federal Patent Act. Under the Act, patents can be sought for “inventions” that are new, non-obvious, and useful. 

“Inventions” are defined under the Act as “[A]ny new and useful art, process, machine, manufacture or composition of matter, or...improvement in any art, process, machine, manufacture or composition of matter” (emphasis added).

New patents in Canada can last for 20 years from the date of filing. After expiry, a patented invention becomes public domain. 

Psychedelic Patents in Canada

Psychedelic patents are likely to commonly fall under the subject matter category “compositions of matter”, which can includes chemical mixtures (e.g., pharmaceutical drugs) and genetically modified organisms. These creations may also fall under the category of “manufacture”, which applies to products made by the “application of physical labour or mechanical power.”

Immense capital and know-how are now being devoted to creating new psychedelic compounds and derivatives based on psychedelic substances such as psilocybin, LSD, and DMT. Because the aforementioned substances are not new, they cannot be patented in their known form. But new compositions based on them, potentially boasting distinctive properties such as milder or otherwise altered effects, may be subject to patent protection.

There’s also interest in patenting chemical products that counter the effects of psychedelic substances. These products can help health practitioners control the use and effects of psychedelics in a clinical setting.

Companies with extensive portfolios of patented psychedelic compounds and derivatives are likely to be incredibly valuable, particularly if their patented creations prove especially useful for medical treatment purposes. But psychedelic patents in other subject matter categories are also likely to prove highly valuable; for example, patents on new psychedelic substance cultivation processes and technologies.

One area where Canadian patent law may prove limiting - at least by comparison with American patent law - is with respect to medical and therapeutic treatments. Canadian patent law bars patents for medical or therapeutic treatments; American patent law does not. However, it should be noted that medical treatment-type patents may be granted under Canadian patent law under certain conditions where what might be considered a treatment can be justified as a ‘method of use’ related to commerce or industry.