The Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) published a practice notice on May 3, 2021 confirming that the CIPO will now begin to accept requests for expedited examination of trademark applications. In order for a request for expedited examination to be granted, the request must be in the form of an affidavit or statutory declaration setting out the specific circumstances and reasons for the request, and it must clearly set out how one or more of the following four criteria are met:
- a court action is expected or underway in Canada with respect to the applicant's trademark in association with the goods or services listed in the application;
- the applicant is in the process of combating counterfeit products at the Canadian border with respect to the applicant's trademark in association with the goods or services listed in the application;
- the applicant requires registration of its trademark in order to protect its intellectual property rights from being severely disadvantaged on online marketplaces; or
- the applicant requires registration of its trademark in order to preserve its claim to priority within a defined deadline and following a request by a foreign intellectual property office. Note that in such cases the request of the foreign office will need to be attached to the affidavit or statutory declaration.
The notice mentions that expedited examination could be lost if the applicant requests an extension of time or misses any deadline during the examination of the application. For further details, see the practice notice here.
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