Trademark and Other Intellectual Property Issues

• Author: Judy Rost and Bruno Floriani
• Pages: 115-150

I. Trademarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

A. Common-Law Protection of Trademarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

1. Common-Law Passing-Off . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 17

B. Trade-Marks Act . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 19

1. Types of Trademarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

(a) Trademarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

(b) Certification trademarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 20

(c) Distinguishing guises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

(d) Official trademarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

2. Registrability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122

(a) Use and Distinctiveness as Key Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122

(b) Registrable trademarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124

(c) Filing basis for registration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 5

3. Registration Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 26

4. Prohibited Use and Remedies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128

(a) Statutory passing-off . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128

(b) Infringement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

(c) Depreciation of goodwill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130

(d) Other remedies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131

5. Expungement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 31

(a) Cancellation for non-use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131

(b) Invalidity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132

6. Licensing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

(a) What constitutes use under license . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

(b) Marking requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

(c) Intercompany licenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136

7. Upcoming Changes to the Trade-marks Act . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

8. International Treaties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138

115

Trademark and Other

Intellectual Property Issues

CHAPTER 4

Judy Rost and Bruno Floriani*

Contents

* Mr. Floriani acknowledges with gratitude the invaluable and extensive assistance of

his colleague, Catherine Daigle (formerly at Lapointe Rosenstein Marchand Melançon,

LLP at the time of writing), in the preparation of this chapter.

116 Chapter 4

C. Domain Names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

1. Registration of .ca Domain Names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 39

2. Domain Name Disputes and Resolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

II. Copyright . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 0

A. Copyright Act . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140

1. Scope and Term of the Right . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 41

(a) Definition of copyright . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141

(b) Types of works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141

(c) Criteria of originality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141

(d) Conditions for subsistence of copyright . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142

(e) Term . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143

2. Ownership of Copyright . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143

(a) Ownership and author of a work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143

(b) Employees vs. independent contractors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 43

(c) Assignments and licenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 44

(d) Translation and creation of independent work . . . . . . . . . . . 144

3. Moral Rights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145

(a) Right to integrity and association . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145

(b) Assignments and waivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 45

(c) Term . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145

4. Registration Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 45

5. Prohibited Use and Remedies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146

(a) Infringement of copyright . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 46

(b) Exceptions to infringement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 46

(c) Remedies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 47

6. Changes to Canadian Copyright Law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 7

III. Other Intellectual Property Rights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 8

A. Industrial Designs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 48

B. Patents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 49

IV. Confidential Information Protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 50

Trademark and Other Intellectual Property Issues 117

117

I. Trademarks

In Canada, rights in a trademark arise either statutorily, from registration un-

der the Trade-Marks Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. T-13 (TMA), or as a result of the use

of the trademark in the marketplace, otherwise known as common-law rights.

Although there are significant advantages to registration, the owner of an un-

registered trademark (or in certain cases, trade name or other signs) may not

only assert its rights over others based on the use of its trademark, but may

also rely on these rights to prevent the registration by third parties of confus-

ingly similar trademarks.

Practice Note

The TMA has undergone two extensive amendments since December

2014 that will have a major impact on trademark owners and practi-

tioners in Canada. These amendments have been effected through Bill

C-31, Economic Action Plan Act 2014, No. 1 (Bill C-31), and Bill C-8,

Combating Counterfeit Products Act (Bill C-8).

Bill C-31 introduces the most significant changes to the TMA in 50

years. However, given that full implementation of the provisions of Bill

C-31 is subject to the adoption of suitable regulations (which are not

anticipated prior to 2018) at the earliest, the current registration sys-

tem remains in effect.

Bill C-8, which is currently in full effect, adds new prohibitions and

offences intended to address the issues relating to the distribution of

counterfeit products in Canada.

Detailed information on these changes to the TMA is contained in sec-

tions 4(d) and 7 of this chapter.

A. Common-Law Protection of Trademarks

1. Common-Law Passing-Off

The tort of “passing-off” under common law attempts to address concerns in the

marketplace that consumers should be able to rely upon the quality of goods

they purchase under, and associate with, certain names and labels. This body of

common law was originally developed to prevent unauthorized use of a trade-

mark or trade name owned by a competitor in a manner that would wrongly lead