Our professionals regularly publish on new developments in intellectual property law. Our Editor is: Toni Polson Ashton.
Some people anticipate a growth in multi-national trademark registrations for Canadians when the Madrid Protocol is implemented. Others find this doubtful given the track record of Canadian trademark owners to date; however, undoubtedly, the Madrid Protocol will be selected by some as the vehicle to use when filing trademark applications outside Canada.
In anticipation of the implementation of the Madrid Protocol and Singapore Treaty, the Canadian Trademarks Office is allowing trademark owners to voluntarily add class designations to goods and services in their registrations and applications at no additional cost, using the 11th Version (2017) of the Nice Classification (NCL).
Canada is currently in the process of modernizing and harmonizing its intellectual property laws to comply with a number of international treaties. As part of this modernization process, the Canadian Intellectual Property Office recently proposed new Patent Rules that go hand-in-hand with upcoming changes to the Patent Act (both available here). These changes to the Patent Act and new Patent Rules are not in force yet, but it is expected that they will come into force in early 2019.
