Earlier this week, the government introduced an
unprecedented five international intellectual property
treaties in the House of Commons on the same day. The five
tabled treaties, introduced for ratification and implementation,
are:
- the Protocol Relating to the Madrid Agreement Concerning the
International Registration of Marks,
- the Singapore Treaty on the Law of Trademarks,
- the Nice Agreement Concerning the International Classification
of Goods and Services for the Purposes of the Registration of
Marks,
- the Geneva Act of the Hague Agreement Concerning the
International Registration of Industrial Designs, and
- the Patent Law Treaty.
If you follow these sorts of things - and who doesn't? - you
will know that these treaties have been the subject of debate in
Canada for years. For example, here is a 2001
article reviewing the merits of the Madrid
Protocol. Why does the government have a sudden interest in pushing
these treaties forward now? It's because
