Changes to Canadian Trademark Law

On June 19, 2014, Bill C-31, Canada’s Economic Action Plan 2014 Act, No. 1, received Royal Assent. The Bill contains a large series of amendments to Canada’s Trade-marks Act and will allow Canada to (among other things) accede to three key international treaties: (1) the Protocol Relating to the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks (the Madrid Protocol); (2) the Singapore Treaty on the Law of Trademarks (the Singapore Treaty); and (3) the Nice Agreement Concerning the International Classification of Goods and Services for the Purposes of the Registration of Marks (the Nice Agreement).

The new regime is expected to come into force by late 2016 or early 2017. Those already owning or considering registration of a Canadian trademark should be aware of these new changes to Canadian trademark law. Read the full article here.

For more information on trademark matters, please contact Thomas Dunn or Sean Detweiler.