The not-for-profit sector is a significant part of the Canadian
economy in no small part due to recognition of esteemed
trade-marks and brand identities which have been carefully
cultivated over time. Additionally, new and creative branding
ideas are just as likely to be generated by the not-for-profit
sector as the commercial sector and co-branding relationships
between non-profits and others are common.
In June of 2014 the Parliament of Canada passed legislation which
will bring extensive changes to the Canadian Trade-marks Act
("Act"). Additional trade-mark legislation is
working its way through the Senate of Canada and is expected to be
passed into law within the coming months.
The changes to the Act will broaden opportunities to obtain
trade-mark protection in Canada and abroad.
The new legislation means that the Regulations which accompany the
Act must be significantly amended and the Canadian Intellectual
Property Office ("CIPO") has initiated public
consultation on draft amendments.
The thoughts of those in the not-for-profit sector would be a
welcome contribution to this very important public policy
discussion and those engaged in the creation, promotion, use and
licensing of not-for-profit brands should consider making
submissions in respect of the draft
regulations.
The draft amendments and information about them can be found at http://www.cipo.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/cipointernet-internetopic.nsf/eng/h_wr03851.html#background.
The Regulations as they currently exist and will be subject to
amendment can be found at http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/regulations/SOR-96-195/index.html.
The consultation period is open until November 30, 2014 and CIPO
will ultimately publish all submissions on its website.
It is currently expected that the amendments to the Act and
Regulations will become law by the end of 2015 or in early
2016.
Submissions can be detailed or straightforward and anyone in
Canada or elsewhere is welcome to send comments about the draft
regulation amendments to CIPO and can follow the submission
instructions in the first link above to do so.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
