Sweeping Changes To Canadian Trade-marks Act: At What Cost To Trademark Owners?

On March 28, 2014, the Canadian government proposed in Bill C-31, the Economic Action Plan 2014, No. 1, the most important changes to the Trade-marks Act since 1953.  Bill C-31 is an omnibus bill comprising 375 pages that if enacted would also amend more than 60 other unrelated laws.

The last time that Canada's trademark law was substantially amended, the Canadian government created a panel of experts called the Trade Mark Law Revision Committee, who received submissions from the public and deliberated changes to the legislation during a period of five years. Their comprehensive report became the foundation of the current Trade-marks Act, which has stood the test of time. In contrast, the current government engaged in only limited public consultation before Bill C-31 was made public, despite proposing changes far more reaching in scope than those of the Trade Mark Law Revision Committee.