Trademark Changes take effect June 17, 2019

The new Trademark Act & Regulations will come into force June 17, 2019. The following are some actions businesses owners should take before and after this date. Additional details on the upcoming changes are discussed in the previous post Changes to Canadian Trademark Law.

Before June 17th

Prior to June 17th, you should consider if your business has any current or proposed trademarks that have not yet been registered.

There is a cost benefit to filing prior to June 17th as after this date, you have to pay a filing fee for each category of products and/or services you sell. For example, if you were selling clothing, handbags & sunglasses under your trademark, the application would fall into 3 categories at a cost of $530, whereas prior to June 17th the government filing fee would be $250.

As well, the Canadian Trademark Office online filing application system will be unavailable between June 13th to June 17th. Accordingly, if you wish to file a trademark application before the changes take effect, you should consider filing before June 13th so that the application can still be filed electronically.

After June 17th

After June 17th, you will be able to start filing applications for
unconventional trademarks. This includes filing trademark applications for colours, scents, tastes, holograms and moving images. Accordingly, business owners should consider if they have any current trademarks that fall into these categories and if so, be prepared to quickly file these applications after June 17th.

Contact Sander Law to discuss registering your trademarks!

The above content is for informational purposes only and is not legal or professional advice.