Canada's Trade-marks Act has been radically
amended, with those changes announced by the Canadian government to
come into effect in "early 2019". But the effect of
those upcoming changes for brand owners is already happening, and
you should prepare for a more aggressive approach to protecting
your brand and registered trademarks.
The "trolls" emerging from under the trademark bridge
are the same type of sketchy entrepreneurs who pirated domain names
of established brands in the early dot-com days, solely to hold the
domain for ransom from the legitimate brand owner. The
Trade-marks Act changes introduce a similar "rush to
registration" opportunity that will also attract troll-like
behaviour - the misshapen miscreants will file and register a
trademark for your brand, or one that is confusing with your brand,
to try to force you to pay a troll-toll to protect your brand
rights.
