Canada has a scheme under the Trade-marks Act, where government authorities can list official marks. In 2016, over 700 prohibited marks were listed in Canada. The top ten filers were
- Translink – with 49 filings
- European Union Intellectual Property Office – with 30 filings
- Western Canada Lottery Corporation – with 28 filings
- European Council – with 26 filings
- Council of the European Union – with 24 filings
- Société de télédiffusion du Québec – with 20 filings
- International Organisation of Vine and Wine – with 13 filings
- Retraite Québec – with 12 filings
- The Workers Compensation Board – with 12 filings
- Her Majesty the Queen in right of Ontario – with 11 filings
[Update: While all of the above marks were listed under section 9 of the Trade-marks Act, it was pointed out to me by a subscriber that some were listed under other sections than section 9(1)(n)(iii), which is specifically for ‘official marks’. For example, section 9(1)(i.3) allows the listing of “any armorial bearing, flag or other emblem, or the name or any abbreviation of the name, of an international intergovernmental organization, if the armorial bearing, flag, emblem, name or abbreviation is on a list communicated under article 6ter of the [Convention of the Union of Paris] or pursuant to the obligations under the Agreement on Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights set out in Annex 1C to the WTO Agreement stemming from that article, and the Registrar gives public notice of the communication”. The preamble to the list was amended to clarify this distinction. The breakdown of prohibited marks by category is:
- s9(1)(n)(iii) “official marks” – 482 filings
- s9(1)(i.3) – 123 filings
- s9(1)(n)(ii) – 101 filings
- s9(1)(i) – 12 filings
- s9(1)(n)(i) – 4 filings
- s9(1)(i.1) – 2 filings
- s9(1)(n.1) – 2 filings
- s9(1)(e) – 1 filing