After losing the battle in court over the requirement that businesses must add French language to English trade-marks displayed on signage outside their stores, the Québec government announced its intention in June 2015 to make modifications to Québec’s Regulation respecting the language of commerce and business (“Regulation”). As recently reported in the media, the Québec government has announced proposed … Continue Reading
In a recent decision of the Federal Court of Appeal (“FCA”), the FCA took the rare opportunity to consider an appeal from a section 45 expungement proceeding. In One Group LLC v Gouverneur Inc, the FCA reviewed the Registrar’s decision not to expunge One Group LLC’s (“One Group”) trade-mark registration for STK (the “Mark”) on … Continue Reading
Under the Canadian Trade-marks Act, one can request that the Registrar of Trade-marks commence Section 45 Proceedings to cancel a trademark registration for non-use. The Act states that the Registrar shall, upon the written request by any person (who pays the prescribed fee) after three years from the date of registration of a trademark, unless … Continue Reading
Canada’s anti-spam law (“CASL”) outlines violations, enforcement mechanisms, and penalties aimed at protecting online consumers against spam, electronic threats, and misuse of digital technology. CASL’s anti-spam rules came into effect on July 1, 2014. CASL’s software update and installation rules came into effect on January 15, 2015. The latter rules are often referred to as … Continue Reading
As of September 28, 2015, the Canadian Trade-marks Office (“CIPO”) indicated that it accepts trade-mark applications with the goods and services grouped and classed according to the Nice Classification system. CIPO issued a Practice Notice entitled Nice Classification on September 28, 2015. Prior to September 28th, the Nice classification system was not used in Canada … Continue Reading