As the latest step on the road towards the launch of Canada’s new trademark regime, slated to commence in early 2019, the proposed new Trademarks Regulations were published in the Canada Gazette on February 10, 2018.

The new regime will include legislative changes to permit Canada to implement the Madrid international registration system, the Nice Classification system, and the Singapore Treaty, and so the changes will be very significant and very broad in scope.

The draft Regulations were released by the Canadian Intellectual Property Office on June 19, 2017, and were open to public comment until July 21, 2017. Various stakeholder groups, including the Intellectual Property Institute of Canada suggested changes to the Regulations during the consultation period, but a detailed comparison of the initial draft Regulations and the revised published Regulations shows that by and large these submissions were not accepted, and the Regulations remain largely unchanged. A new thirty day consultation period is now open.

The revised Regulations cover a myriad of proposed changes, including:

· Communications with the Canadian Intellectual Property Office;

· Replacement of the Trade Marks Journal by publication on the CIPO website;

· Applications covering non-traditional trademarks, such as scent, texture, taste, holograms, and moving images;

· Merger of application fees and registration fees into a single application fee of $330.00 covering one class of goods and services, and $100.00 for each additional class;

· Implementation of the Madrid Protocol system;

· Introduction of divisional applications;

· Compliance of new applications and existing registrations with Nice Classification requirements;

· Narrowing of period for renewal of trademark registrations and new ten year renewal term;

· Minor amendments to opposition practice and Section 45 summary cancellation proceedings, to streamline and modernize procedures relating to service of documents

Although changes to the draft Regulations were by and large not made during the initial consultation process, CIPO has indicated that draft Practice Notices will be prepared to assist with the interpretation of the Trade-marks Act and Trademarks Regulations amendments. Given the significance of the changes, these Practice Notices could assist in addressing many of the still unanswered questions relating to the new trademark regime.