About 55,000 trademark applications were filed in Canada in 2017. Of these, about 25% were filed in-house or without an agent (up slightly from previous years, and up from 17% in 2010). Check out my list of the 50 firms/agents that filed the most applications in 2017.
Top 5 trademark filers in 2017: Brandster Branding Ltd., Target Brands, The Procter & Gamble Company, Johnson & Johnson, and L’Oreal. Continue reading Canadian Trademark Filings in 2017
Proposed changes to the Trademarks Regulations were published (link) in the Canada Gazette (Part I) for consultation until March 11, 2018. The changes, among other things, implement the Singapore Treaty, the Madrid Protocol and the Nice Agreement. CIPO held consultation on earlier versions of these changes in 2017. (See earlier post)
Three practice notices came to my attention this week:
Changes to the Patent Act, Patent Rules, Patented Medicines (Notice of Compliance) Regulations and the Trade-marks Act, and new Certificate of Supplemental Protection Regulations come into force on September 21, 2017 as part of Canada’s implementation of CETA. Today, Health Canada released guidance documents on applying for Certificates of Supplementary Protection and on Health Canada’s administration of the PM(NOC) Regulations.
The final regulations for implementing CETA in Canada were published today in a special edition of the Canada Gazette. As compared to the proposed regulations published earlier this summer, the final versions the IP related regulations are very similar, with no changes to the Regulations Amending the Patented Medicines (Notice of Compliance) Regulations, 2017, two changes to the Certificate of Supplementary Protection Regulations and no changes to Rules Amending the Patent Rules. As reported yesterday, the changes come into force September 21, 2017. Continue reading CETA
A series of Orders in Council dated last week but published today confirm that most of the Canada–European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement Implementation Act will come into force September 21, 2017. This includes expanded geographic indicators, certificates of supplementary protection and changes to the PM(NOC) Regulations.
Canada and the EU have announced that they have agreed to set September 21, 2017 as the date to start the provisional application of CETA. Continue reading CETA
The trademark agent qualifying exam details have been announced with the exam to take place on November 28, 2017. Sign up deadlines and details are on CIPOs website.
The Supreme Court of Canada issued its decision today in Google Inc. v. Equustek Solutions Inc., 2017 SCC 34, with the majority holding in the 7-2 decision that the trial judge should be given deference in determining an interlocutory injunction, and where it is necessary to ensure the injunction’s effectiveness, a court can grant an injunction enjoining conduct anywhere in the world, including in this case against third-party Google. The underlying proceeding related to passing off and trade secret infringement by a defendant which was conducted outside B.C. through a series of changing websites.
Yesterday, the United States Supreme Court issued its decision in Matal v. Tam where the US Patent and Trademark Office had denied an application for “The Slants” under a Lanham Act provision prohibiting the registration of trademarks that may “disparage . . . or bring . . . into contemp[t] or disrepute” any “persons, living or dead.” The court held that the disparagement clause violates the First Amendment’s Free Speech Clause. (link)