Bill C-8, Combating Counterfeit Products Act received royal assent earlier today. The legislation is primarily directed to counterfeit goods, including border enforcement, criminal provisions and civil remedies though amendments to the Copyright Act and Trade-marks Act. The amendments were previously introduced as Bill C-56 in 2013.

See the text of the legislation. Many of the amendments (including replacing ‘wares’ with ‘goods’) are duplicative of Bill C-31 that became law in June 2014 but some sections come into force immediately. Immediate changes include new criminal provisions, the deletion of Section 7(e) and changes to Section 20 in the Trade-marks Act. Remaining sections of C-8 and most sections of Bill C-31 require an order in council.

Due to a mix-up between the House of Commons and the Senate (due in part to the passage of Bill C-31 and the renumbering of various sections), passage of Bill C-8 by the Senate had to be re-started because the wrong version was being considered. The Senate Committee recommended that the “effectiveness of our combatting counterfeit goods regime” be reviewed two years after the adoption of the bill.

The above comments in this post are based on a preliminary review so please confirm all details with the text of the legislation.

See my previous blog posts on Bill C-56 in March 2013 and the introduction of Bill C-8 in October 2013.

[Update: See the government’s press release on the legislation.]