Reform of the Canadian Trademarks law

The reform of the Canadian TradeMarks Law will enter into force on June 17, 2019.

In view of the future accession of Canada to the Madrid Protocol and Nice Agreement, the changes include the use of the Nice Classification to categorize goods and services for the purposes of registering trademarks.

Clients who intend to protect their trademarks in multiple classes should file their applications before that date if they want to avoid the payment of additional fees for claiming several classes of products or services.

The reform abolishes the bases for filing a trademark application (real use or proposed use in Canada) and the requirement to file a Statement of Use in the course of the registration procedure.

Michèle Léonard