Tag Archives: Trademarks

Trademarks

One new and one amended trademark practice notice were published today. A new notice clarifies the practice before CIPO as an Office of Origin when the Registrar of Trademarks is unable to certify an application for international registration (AIR) under the Madrid Protocol or one is withdrawn. An updated notice is directed to exclusionary wording in statements of goods or services.

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US Supreme Court

Earlier today, the US Supreme Court agreed to take up Jack Daniel’s Properties, Inc. v. VIP Products LLC on “whether humorous use of another’s trademark as one’s own on a commercial product is subject to the Lanham Act’s traditional likelihood-of-confusion analysis, or instead receives heightened First Amendment protection from trademark-infringement claims”. The defendant sells a “Bad Spaniels” squeaky dog toy.

Trademark Backlog

CIPO has published two practice notices directed to the backlog of trademarks awaiting examination:

  • Requests for expedited examination – “effective immediately the Office will begin accepting requests for expedited examination of trademark applications” on the basis of court proceedings, combating counterfeit products, protect marks on online marketplaces, or to preserve claims of priority.
  • Measures to improve timeliness in examination – the Office will prioritize applications with statements of goods or services selected from the pre-approved list, issue fewer examination reports prior to refusal, and will provide fewer examples of goods or services that would be acceptable in reports.

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College

Implementing regulations for the new College of Patent Agents and Trademark Agents are published in the Canada Gazette for a 30 day consultation. The regulations and transition provisions would provide for the transfer of responsibility for agents, including entrance examinations and conduct, to the new college. The regulations would establish an Investigations Committee and the Discipline Committee with a majority of public members, impose a residency requirement on agents, and replace ‘firm’ agents with the option to appointment of all the patent agents at the same firm.

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Fees

A number of fees at CIPO are increasing by 2% as of January 1, 2021 due to application of the Service Fees Act. As a result, the fees listed in schedules in the various regulations, such as Schedule 2 to the Patent Rules, may no longer be accurate. For example, the regular patent filing fee will increase to $408 as of January 1st. CIPO has an updated fee schedule. Application fees for a Certificate of Supplementary Protection also increase by 2% but not until April 2021.