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ARTICLE · 04 DECEMBER 2018

Bill C-86 – Tinkering With Official Marks In Canada

In addition to its more substantive changes to IP law, budget implementation Bill C-86 also takes the opportunity to fix a curious, and perhaps unintended, aspect of Canada's official marks scheme.

CanadaIntellectual Property

In addition to its more substantive changes to IP law, budget implementation Bill C-86 also takes the opportunity to fix a curious, and perhaps unintended, aspect of Canada's official marks scheme.

Official marks are marks that appear on the trademark register once they are adopted by a public authority. Unlike trademarks, which are subject to expungement for non-use, there are few bases on which an official mark can be removed from the trademark register once public notice of adoption has been given.

One particularly problematic issue is that official marks persist on the register even if a public authority has ceased to operate, which can permanently lock up a trademark from use or registration by any entities.

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