A geographical supranational view of CIPO’s data

This post presents an overview of CIPO’s trademark .xml data from a continental and sub-continental regional standpoint.

Canada’s Madrid Submarines

If you do a “knock-out” search of CIPO’s online trademark database you should beware that a conflicting priority-claiming application for an identical mark could be filed up to six months after the date of your search.  Canada’s accession to the Madrid Protocol presents a new issue: a conflicting priority-claiming Madrid “submarine” application for an identical mark could surface in CIPO’s database over 1½ years after the date of your search!

CIPO’s Top 10 Nice Classes

In a 10 May 2021 email notification, CIPO announced a gradual expansion of its Goods and Services Manual “beginning with the top ten Nice classes filed within the last ten years”.  This post looks at top 10 Nice classes in various ways.

The Coming Agent Shake Out?

With the College of Patent Agents and Trademark Agents expected to become operational soon, it is timely to review some trademark agent appointment statistics.

CIPO Addresses the Backlog

On 3 May 2021 CIPO released 2 Practice Notices to address “current wait times at the examination stage”.  The Notices deal with Requests for expedited examination and Measures to improve timeliness in examination.  Ominously, the measures include the prospect of increased refusals by CIPO.

CIPO’s Top Madrid Users

The Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) started accepting Madrid Protocol trademark registrations designating Canada less than 2 years ago, but Canada has already become a top destination for such filings.  That’s both good and bad news.