Prosecution Of Trademark Applications Post June 17: A Distinctive Affair

The changes to Canadian trademark law and practice that come into force June 17 will significantly impact the prosecution of Canadian trademark applications.

Applications will still be examined on substantive, relative and technical grounds, but there will be many additional considerations as well, with distinctiveness given much more prominence in examination under the post June 17 Trade-marks Act.

Inherent distinctiveness

All applications will be examined for inherent distinctiveness, including any application that had not yet been advertised as of June 17.

Where “the Registrar’s preliminary view is that the trademark is not inherently distinctive,” an objection will be raised, either to the mark as it applies to all, or just a subset, of the goods and services.