As we approach the legalization of recreational cannabis in Canada on October 17, 2018, cannabis brand owners are increasingly paying attention to Canadian trademarks. Unlike the situation in the United States, where brand owners are unable to obtain federal trademark registrations for cannabis-related products, the Canadian Intellectual Property Office has not banned registrations for goods or services related to cannabis at any time.
There are currently over 2000 active Canadian trademark applications and registration for goods and services including cannabis, and more are being filed every day. The two oldest of these registrations date from 1969 and 1987, both of which are for pharmaceutical preparations including cannabis ingredients. Of these 2000+ applications and registrations, only 131 are registrations, with the remainder being pending applications. This reflects the fact that the legalization of recreational cannabis in represents the opening of an entirely new industry in the country, and people and companies everywhere are hoping to stake a part of that enormous new market for themselves.
In 2015, 117 applications were filed with cannabis listed in the goods or services description. In 2016, that number doubled to 236 applications. In 2017, that number exploded to 743 applications filed. For just the first half of 2018, 923 applications were filed covering cannabis goods or services. The number of cannabis applications filed in Canada is increasing every day. Brand owners who are hoping to enter the Canadian cannabis marketplace within the next few years who are not taking action to protect their brands in Canada today risk losing their trademark rights in Canada due to this flood of cannabis trademark applications.
Brand owners should also bear in mind that the changes to Canada’s Trademarks Act that are expected to come into force in Spring 2019 mean that for these pending applications, there will be no requirement to file specimens of use, or even a Declaration of Use. Because these applications will be able to issue to registration without any requirement of use in Canada, the Register will be filled with thousands of cannabis-related trademark registrations.