The Canadian Government has introduced the most fundamental
changes to the Canadian trademarks regime in more than a half
century, by way of a budget bill entitled, the Economic Action
Plan 2014 Act, Part 1, or Bill C-31, that also amends more
than 60 other pieces of legislation. Part of Bill C-31 is a
restatement of Bill C-8, the Combatting Counterfeit Products
Act, which is still before Parliament, and many of these
changes are welcome updates to trademark legislation.
However, Bill C-31 proposes to eliminate the requirement that a
mark be used somewhere before registration. While the last major
overhaul of the trademark system was accomplished under the
guidance of a panel of renowned experts with detailed consultation
and significant input from many sources, the Government has acted
largely without consultation in making this change, despite the
huge impact these amendments will have on trademark clearance, risk
analysis, registration rights, enforcement and
