CIPO refused CA3001750A1 in a decision closed on 13 March 2023. The Commissioner concurred with the Patent Appeal Board that all 10 claims on file lacked novelty under s.28.2(1)(b) and were obvious under s.28.3 of the Patent Act. No patent was granted. Gree has six months under s.41 to appeal to the Federal Court of Canada.

CA3001750A1 claims an energy gateway, household appliance, direct-current micro-grid system, and associated energy management method. The application was refused because the Patent Appeal Board found that all 10 claims lacked novelty — meaning prior art directly anticipated the claims — and were also independently obvious to a person skilled in the art at the relevant date.

Yes. Under section 41 of the Canadian Patent Act, Gree has six months from the Commissioner's decision to appeal to the Federal Court of Canada. The decision expressly noted this right. Whether Gree has filed or intends to file such an appeal is not disclosed in the available record.

The refusal applies only to CA3001750A1 in Canada. It does not extinguish any rights Gree may hold under other granted patents or pending applications in Canada or elsewhere. Gree Electric's broader global portfolio in home appliance and energy management technology may include related granted patents in other jurisdictions. A jurisdiction-specific analysis is required to assess overall freedom to operate.

A dual refusal on both novelty and obviousness grounds indicates a dense prior art field where broad energy gateway and DC micro-grid claims are difficult to sustain. For applicants in this space, it signals that narrowly differentiated claims — focused on specific technical implementations rather than broad system architectures — are more likely to survive examination at CIPO and in comparable jurisdictions.