The Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) is taking
action to improve timeliness in issuing trademark rights.
Higher-than-anticipated filings of Canadian trademark
applications, and the country's successful accession to the
Madrid System for registering international trademarks, led to
increased wait times to first examination. CIPO considers it a
priority to improve timeliness in examination. Measures intended to
reduce the delay were proposed in a recent practice notice. They include:
a) When issuing an examiner's report, examiners will
provide fewer examples of goods or services that would be
considered acceptable.
In Canada, there is a requirement to describe goods and services
in “ordinary commercial terms.” This requirement tends
to be for a more specific description than in other countries.
