You can easily determine the total number of marks corresponding to each option:
using the online database search interface, select Application number as the search field, type an asterisk (*) in the Enter search criteria box, check one of the option boxes and click the Search button. If you had done that when the database header read “The database was last updated on: 2021-02-24” you would have obtained the results tabulated below (click to enlarge the image).
At first glance, the results do not appear to balance: the option 1 “All” result 1,765,956 does not equal the sum of the results found for options 2-8, namely 1,772,213. The discrepancy is explained by clicking the Help link atop the list of Category options. Specifically, “ 'trademarks', includes certification marks, distinguishing guise, specific mark, standardization mark or union label;”. By subtracting the option 3 & 4 Certification Marks and Distinguishing Guise results to avoid double-counting them, we get 1,772,213 - 5,075 - 1,182 = 1,765,956 which equals the option 1, “All”, result.
Given that tmk: signifies a WIPO-defined XML element, we can conclude that the information encapsulated by the tmk:MarkCategory element (i.e. the word “Trademark” in the above extract) originates with WIPO. CIPO’s Trademarks Data Dictionary describes the tmk:MarkCategory element as “Category of the mark based on WIPO’s standard” and references the Data Dictionary’s Appendix B. That Appendix lists 12 different WIPO-defined values which may be encapsulated by the tmk:MarkCategory element, namely: Mark, Trademark, Service Mark, Individual Mark, Collective mark, Collective trademark, Collective service mark, Collective membership mark, Certification mark (also named Guarantee mark), Well known mark under TRIPS Article 16_2, Well known mark under TRIPS Article 16_3 and Well known collective mark. Canadian trademark practitioners may be puzzled by those values, since many of them have no relevance to the Canadian trademark regime.
Fortunately, CIPO has exercised its discretion to define additional elements which Canadian practitioners will recognize. Specifically, as explained in the Data Dictionary, CIPO’s catmk:TrademarkClass XML element “...indicates the class of the trademark application / registration.” (Note the ca country code in the catmk: prefix portion of the element—signifying that this is one of CIPO’s user-defined elements.)
In the aforementioned Appendix B, CIPO provides the following breakdown showing how CIPO’s catmk:TrademarkClass element maps to WIPO’s tmk:MarkCategory element and vice versa (I have omitted tmk:MarkCategory element values which do not map to any catmk:TrademarkClass values).
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WIPO’s tmk:MarkCategory |
CIPO’s catmk:TrademarkClass |
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Mark |
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Trademark |
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Certification mark, also named Guarantee mark |
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As can be seen, CIPO has defined 21 different informational values which may be encapsulated by the catmk:TrademarkClass element. Those values are also listed—together with the numerical codes tabulated above—in Appendix L of the Data Dictionary.
Notice that the 21 values tabulated above for CIPO’s catmk:TrademarkClass element include 10 separate values prefixed “Prohibited Mark”, meaning marks protected pursuant to section 9 of the Trademarks Act. This is somewhat curious, in that my recent Section 9 Marks post revealed only 9 sub-sections of Section 9 containing a “...the Registrar has...given public notice...” stipulation. It turns out that the catmk:TrademarkClassCode numerical codes 10 and 11 (i.e. 10 - Prohibited Mark; Abbreviation of the Name; and 11 - Prohibited Mark; Name) both pertain to marks protected pursuant to sub-section 9(1)(i.3) of the Trademarks Act. Inspection of that sub-section suggests that, in structuring the catmk:TrademarkClass element, CIPO has separated the two items colour-highlighted below for reasons of administrative convenience:
9 (1) No person shall adopt in connection with a business, as a trademark or otherwise, any mark consisting of, or so nearly resembling as to be likely to be mistaken for, ...(i.3) any armorial bearing, flag or other emblem, or the name or any abbreviation of the name, of an international intergovernmental organization, if the armorial bearing, flag, emblem, name or abbreviation is on a list communicated under article 6ter of the Convention or pursuant to the obligations under the Agreement on Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights set out in Annex 1C to the WTO Agreement stemming from that article, and the Registrar gives public notice of the communication;
- use the catmk:Section9 element as explained in my Section 9 Marks post to examine Section 9 marks in relation to the nine sub-sections of Section 9 containing a public notice stipulation (in which case “Prohibited Mark; Name” and “Prohibited Mark; Abbreviation of the Name” marks will be consolidated as 9(1)(i.3) marks); or
- use the catmk:TrademarkClass element to examine Section 9 marks in relation to the ten “Prohibited Mark” categories tabulated above, e.g. if it is desired to discriminate between “Prohibited Mark; Name” and “Prohibited Mark; Abbreviation of the Name” marks.
