Expedited Trademark Examinations in Canada

The Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) recently announced that it will be accepting requests for expedited examination of trademark applications along with other measures to speed up the trademark registration process in Canada. Before the recent announcements, CIPO took approximately 24-30 months to issue an examiner’s report (also called an office action). The new measures are expected to greatly reduce delays in Canada. 

Expedited examinations may be requested by an applicant if one of the following conditions are met:

1. a court action is expected or underway in Canada with respect to the applicant’s trademark in association with the goods or services listed in the application.
2. the applicant is in the process of combating counterfeit products at the Canadian border with respect to the applicant’s trademark in association with the goods or services listed in the application;
3. the applicant requires registration of its trademark in order to protect its intellectual property rights from being severely disadvantaged on online marketplaces; or
4. the applicant requires registration of its trademark in order to preserve its claim to priority within a defined deadline and following a request by a foreign intellectual property office.

Other measures to reduce delays in trademark registration include:

1. examiners providing fewer examples of goods and services that would be considered acceptable in examiner’s reports;
2. faster examinations of applications with goods and services from CIPO’s pre-approved list of goods and services; and
3. reduced number of examiner’s reports for each application and issuance of refusals in a timely manner. 

If you have a pending trademark application that has yet to be approved and you believe you meet one of the four conditions above, you may wish to request expedited examination for your application. If a request for expedited examination is accepted, the application will be examined as soon as possible. 

Please reach out to a member of Voyer Law’s IP team if you would like to request expedited examination for your trademark application.