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Trademark Reform

Bill C-31 received Royal Assent on June 19, 2014. As previously noted the Trade-marks Act is amended to in broad terms to, among other things,

• change the name of the Act to the Trademarks Act;

• make that Act consistent with the Singapore Treaty on the Law of Trademarks;

• add the authority to make regulations for carrying into effect the Protocol Relating to the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks;

• simplify the requirements for obtaining a filing date in relation to an application for the registration of a trademark;

• eliminate the requirement to file a declaration of use of a trademark before registration;

• reduce of the term of registration of a trademark from 15 to 10 years; and

• adopt the classification system established by the Nice Agreement Concerning the International Classification of Goods and Services for the Purposes of the Registration of Marks.

While the majority of these changes are positive in nature the amendments allow an applicant for a trademark to obtain a registration without any requirement to specify a date of first use of the trademark in Canada or to show use before obtaining a registration. There are significant concerns with respect to the potential negative impact that this change will have on the Canadian trademark system and the failure of the Government to engage in any consultations with interested parties. We may not have heard the last word on the these amendments since affected parties will likely seek to have the Act amended.