Pharmaceutical and
medical products are no exception to the fierce competition between
companies to make their products stand out.
However, finding a
trademark for this type of product requires special considerations,
mainly because of a specific Health Canada policy that applies to
these products, in addition to the general criteria provided in the
Trademarks Act.
Consider the Different
Factors
Upon introducing the
policy, now entitled Guidance Document for Industry - Review of
Drugs Brand Names, Health Canada calculated that confusion
between health product names was the cause of one in four
medication errors.
The Canadian trademark
law regime is designed to protect consumers from being misled as to
the source of the product they are purchasing. Still, it is not
entirely suited to avoid confusion between different products with
similar names that may have different health effects, particularly
if they all come from the same manufacturer. For the
