Update your file numbers with CIPO (the com:ApplicantFileReference XML element)

Each one of CIPO’s trademark .xml files contains a lot of detail—including your file reference numbers.

What about patent data?

You may be wondering if CIPO has any patent data that could be analyzed in similar fashion to the trademark data analysis examples you can see by clicking the tabs along the top of this page.  The answer is yes, but no.

Section 9 Marks

In this blog’s introductory post I mentioned that although you can’t restrict a search of CIPO’s online trademark database to retrieve only certain types of Section 9 marks, you can do exactly that if you're working with CIPO’s trademark XML data.

Working with trademark XML data (XML shredding)

The previous post began by surmising that you have downloaded one of CIPO’s global or weekly .zip files and unzipped it into a separate folder, yielding ten to twenty thousand .xml files.  So now you’re set to do some sophisticated data analysis—right?

Viewing trademark XML data

OK—you have downloaded one of CIPO’s global or weekly .zip files and unzipped it into a separate folder.  That folder will typically contain ten to twenty thousand files.  Most of them will be .xml files, but there will also be quite a few .png files (containing design mark images) and possibly some .mp3 or .mp4 files (containing sounds & moving images).  We’ll ignore the .png, .mp3 & .mp4 files—but now what?

The Data

Approximately semi-annually (pre-pandemic) CIPO publishes a “global” release of almost 2 million XML files—one file for each & every Canadian trademark (excluding certain marks that were cancelled or expunged before 1979 or applications that were abandoned or refused before 1980).

Introduction

Each week the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) releases thousands of XML files containing detailed information about Canadian trademarks—one file per trademark.  If a new trademark application is filed, CIPO publishes a new XML file for that application.  If a step is taken—either by the trademark owner or by CIPO—in relation to an existing trademark application or registration, CIPO republishes the XML file for that application/registration to reflect that step.