Parliament Tables Proposed Amendments to the Trade-marks Act

On October 29, 2018, the Canadian Parliament tabled, in a surprise to many practitioners, the Budget Implementation Act 2 (Bill C-86), which would amend, among other things, the Patent Act, Trade-marks Act, and Copyright Act. In addition, the bill contains provisions enacting the College of Patent and Trade-mark Agents Act .

Proposed amendments to the Trade-marks Act include adding bad faith as a ground of opposition and expungement; requiring use as a precondition of alleging infringement in some circumstances; adding some restrictions to the term of official marks; giving the Registrar additional powers to govern the process of opposition proceedings; and requiring leave to file additional evidence with the Federal Court on appeal from a decision of the Registrar.

David Bowden

testtest2

Previous ArticleNo Hotel in Canada? No Problem – Trademark Owner Maintains Trademark Registration With Hotel ServicesNext ArticleDelays Nourish Desires: Canada’s New Trademark Laws Come Into Force June 17, 2019

Neil Melliship

Neil Melliship is a Partner and co-chair of the Intellectual Property and Information Technology practice groups at the Vancouver-based Canadian law firm of Clark Wilson LLP. Neil is a lawyer and a registered Canadian Trademark Agent, who actively speaks and writes on trademark and other IP issues including those relating to the Internet, domain name disputes and e-commerce. Neil is consistently rated as a Leading Trademark Practitioner—Individuals: Prosecution and Strategy, by the World Trademark Review (WTR) 1000. Neil is also listed in the Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory as Rated Repeatedly Recommended in the area of Intellectual Property. He has also been repeatedly named by Best Lawyers in Canada in the categories of Intellectual Property Law, Technology Law and Information Technology Law.