CIPO has published proposed amendments to the Trademark Regulations to go with the amendments to the Trademarks Act (Bill C-31) made in June 2014. The proposed regulations deal with almost all aspects of trademark law including correspondence, applications, Nice classifications, the Madrid Protocol, oppositions and cancellation procedures.

Links:

• Proposed Regulations
• CIPO Consultation Page
• Trademarks Act (with C-31 amendments)

Amendments to the regulations are necessary due to the significant changes made to the Trademarks Act in June 2014 as part of the Budget Implementation Act (Bill C-31). According to the CIPO announcement:

The proposed regulatory amendments to the Trade-marks Regulations are required to enable Canada to accede to the Singapore Treaty on the Law of Trademarks, the Protocol relating to the Madrid Agreement concerning the International Registration of Marks and the Nice Agreement concerning the International Classification of Goods and Services for the Purposes of the Registration of Marks.

CIPO is inviting comments until November 30, 2014.  I’m sure most of the intellectual property organizations, such as IPIC, will be preparing submissions regarding the proposed regulations.

The amendments to the Trademarks Act as part of Bill C-31 will come into force at a date to be specified by Order in Council, likely after the regulations have been finalized.

Other CIPO announcements

• the Patent Agent Examinations will be held April 28, 29, 30 and May 1, 2015. The deadline for applying is December 2, 2014 and note the new refund policy implemented last year.
• “minor updates” have been made to Chapter 8 “Abstracts” and Chapter 19 “Amendments to Patent Applications”
• introduction of a new Search Report for national patent examination to document the search conducted by the examiner.