Proposed regulatory amendments to the Trade-marks Regulations and the Industrial Design Regulations have been published. Consultations are being considered through to mid-July. These changes include substantive changes to implement Madrid Protocol, Singapore Treaty and Nice Agreement for trademarks and Hague Agreement for industrial designs.For trademarks (link) , the changes primarily focus on simplifying filing requirements particularly for international trademark applications. Likely of most significance, are the changes to the requirement to identify trademark ‘use’ in Canada. The consultation is open until July 21, 2017.

For industrial designs (link) the focus is on simplifying and harmonizing the filing process, particularly for international filings. The consultation is open until July 14, 2017.

A consultation on amendments to the Patent Rules is expected to take place between August 1, 2017 and September 8, 2017.