In January 2025, the Canadian Intellectual Property Office launched a pilot project that could have an impact on your trademarks.
Each month, the Registrar of Trade Marks randomly selects trademarks registered for more than three years in Canada and asks their owners to provide proof of use of their trademark in association with each designated product and/or service, or to justify non-use due to exceptional circumstances.
The notice is sent to the trademark owner and copied to their local representative. The deadline given to the owners of selected trademarks is 3 months from the date of the notice, which is a fairly short period of time to gather proof of use. Furthermore, proof of use must be provided for each product or service concerned.
In the absence of use or in exceptional circumstances, the registrations in question could be deleted, in whole or in part.
This is why we are informing you so that you can anticipate the possibility of these actions and gather, if necessary, evidence of the use of your trademarks in this territory.
