On November 14th, the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) announced that new amendments, which will bring important changes to Canada’s trademark laws, will go into force on June 17, 2019.
Some of the changes include:
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Accession to the Madrid Protocol, allowing entities in Canada to obtain trademark registrations in other member countries with a single application and a single set of fees, and allowing entities in other member countries to designate Canada among the countries in which they wish to obtain trademark registrations through the same process;
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Elimination of use or filing bases to obtain a registration;
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Trademark registrations and renewals will now have a 10 year term, rather than 15 years;
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Trademark will need to be considered distinctive to obtain registration;
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Classification of trademarks will be officially introduced, together with a new per-class fee structure.
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