On October 28, 2013, the Canadian government reintroduced an important Act to amend the Copyright Act and Trade-Marks Act, with wide-reaching changes that will impact upon anti-counterfeiting and border protection, non-traditional marks, and trade-mark prosecution.
The short title of the proposed legislation is "Combating Counterfeit Products Act." The Bill introduces long overdue amendments to the Canadian copyright and trade-marks acts to add improved border measures and prohibitions to more clearly address the proliferation of counterfeit and pirated products in Canada. The Bill also includes provisions dealing with significant trade-mark issues, including expanding the definition of "trade-mark" to cover non-traditional trade-marks, allowing proposed use certification mark applications and divisional applications, and other improvements. A more detailed discussion of the proposed legislation is available at http://www.smart-biggar.ca/en/articles_detail.cfm?news_id=737.
The Act was initially put forward under Bill C-56 but it died on the order table with the prorogation of parliament earlier this fall. However, the Act has been reintroduced in the same form and, pursuant to an order made October 21, 2013, the Bill is deemed to be at the same point in the parliamentary process as Bill C-56 was at the date of prorogation. Accordingly, the Bill is deemed to be read a second time and referred to the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology.
While the Bill is long overdue, analysis of Bill C-56 has pointed out some shortcomings in the proposed provisions. Now that the Bill will be going into Committee, it is hoped that there will be amendments to at least the anti-counterfeiting border provisions to be added to the Copyright and Trade-marks Acts, and the trade-mark offence provisions to be added to the Trade-marks Act. It is possible that it will pass into legislation during the current session of parliament. We will be monitoring the progress of the Bill and welcome any questions concerning its contents and status.
The preceding is intended as a timely update on Canadian intellectual property and technology law. The content is informational only and does not constitute legal or professional advice. To obtain such advice, please communicate with our offices directly.