As reported in our
June 20, 2014 IP Update, the Government of Canada passed into
law Bill C-31, which contains numerous significant amendments to
Canada's Trade-marks Act. Some of the amendments were
discussed in our
March 31, 2014 IP Update. Among the significant changes to
Canadian trademark law will be the elimination of the requirement
for declaring use in Canada prior to obtaining a registration.
However, recent news from the Canadian Trademarks Office regarding
a delay in the implementation of this provision warrants
consideration of the optimal strategy to be adopted in connection
with the requirement to declare use in the interim period.
Under the current regime, when a trademark application is based
upon "proposed use" of the mark (or
"intent-to-use" the mark) in Canada, on allowance of the
application the applicant must file a Declaration stating that use
of the trademark has commenced in Canada in association with goods
and/or services for which there
