On September 30, 2018, Canada, the United States and Mexico
reached an agreement on what is essentially a revised NAFTA. The
new agreement will be renamed the United States-Mexico-Canada
Agreement (USMCA). For preliminary insights on the USMCA, please
see our
previous publication. The text of the agreement is currently
undergoing a legal review for accuracy, clarity, and consistency.
This note focuses on the intellectual property issues in Chapter
20, the provisions of which are not expected to change
substantively.
General Information and Key Changes
While the majority of the intellectual property chapter is
consistent with the current Canadian intellectual property regime
and the anticipated new trademark regime that will likely come into
force in early 2019, Canada will be required under the USMCA to
make a number of significant changes to its intellectual property
laws. The key changes include:
