Overview
All those with a stake in trademarks will be interested — if not thrilled — with the January 16 publication of forecasted processing times by Canada’s trademark office.
Canada’s trademark legislation underwent many changes in June 2019. An unfortunate result of those changes, and the following year’s worldwide COVID epidemic, was that the time between filing trademark applications and those applications being examined by the trademark office ballooned from about nine months to about 40 months or more. This was a matter of frustration for trademark owners and their counsel.
The great news is that the trademark office has published its expected processing times for new applications as follows:
- 13 months for applications filed using the pre-approved list of goods and services
- 15 months for applications filed not using the pre-approved list of goods and services
- 13 months for Madrid protocol applications (based on date of WIPO notification of designation)
It must be noted that applications in the system as of now will still suffer delay. The trademark office advises that such applications are being distributed to examiners currently as follows:
- October 6, 2023 for applications filed using the pre-approved list of goods and services
- October 29, 2021 for applications filed not using the pre-approved list of goods and services
- October 19, 2023 for Madrid protocol applications (based on date of WIPO notification of designation)
Despite the excellent news, we still strongly recommend that our clients take descriptions of goods and services from the pre-approved list or seek to amend their applications to pre-approved terms. Doing so will bring the applications forward for earlier examination. Remember, too, that expedited examination may be requested in certain circumstances. Please contact us for details.