The existence of counterfeit products often signify that a
particular brand or product has 'made it': it is now
sufficiently popular that someone is making knock-offs. Of course,
counterfeits are a nuisance for legitimate rights holders and
indeed harmful to consumers, who may not get the product they
expect (and certainly without the usual warranties, etc. that
legitimate products carry). There has never been an easy
'fix' to this problem, which involves the misappropriation
of intellectual property rights, principally, copyrights and
trade-marks; counterfeit goods will typically copy a brand
owner's trade-marks/copyrights or use confusingly similar
copies.
Canada's most recent response to this was last year's
Bill C-8, the Combating Counterfeit Products Act, S.C.
2014, c. 32 (the "CCPA"), which received royal assent in
December 2014. The CCPA made a number of changes to Canada's
trade-mark and copyright laws, as well as minor amendments to the
Criminal Code. These
