Canadian Trade-Marks Law And Practice: Extensive Amendments

Earlier this year, the Canadian government introduced the first procedural step towards ratification and implementation of five intellectual property law treaties in order to align Canadian practice with most other countries in the world. The treaties include:

• The Madrid Protocol, designed to assist trade-mark owners in registering their marks in multiple jurisdictions by filing a single international application;
• The Singapore Treaty, harmonizing administrative procedures between countries;
• The Nice Agreement, setting out a classification system of goods and services in trade-mark applications;
• The Geneva Act of the Hague Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Industrial Designs ("Hague"); and