Proposed amendments to the Trademarks Regulations to support and implement certain amendments made to the Trademarks Act were recently published in the Canada Gazette. The amendments to the Act already received royal assent in late 2018 but have yet to come into force. Together with these amendments to the Act, the amendments to the Regulations would allow for cost awards, case management, and confidentiality orders in proceedings before the Trademarks Opposition Board (TMOB) and for the Canadian Intellectual Property Office to indicate that an official mark holder is not a public authority or has ceased to exist.

The goal of these amendments is to allow TMOB proceedings to be carried out more efficiently and cost-effectively and to make it potentially easier to overcome objections based on the citation of official marks.

Find the Regulatory Impact Analysis Statement and the proposed text of the amendments to the Regulations in the Canada Gazette Part 1, Volume 158, Number 23.