Canada’s federal Government introduced Bill C-56 on March 1, 2013 – the Combating Counterfeit Products Act. The primary focus of this Bill is to improve the ability of copyright and trade-mark owners to combat the manufacture, importation, sale and distribution of counterfeit goods in Canada.
While the primary focus of the Bill is on counterfeit goods, the Bill calls for amendments to both the Copyright Act and the Trade-marks Act that will have effects beyond counterfeiting.
Should this Bill go through as is, the changes to the Trade-marks Act include the following:
– There will still be a hyphen in “trade-mark”, but “wares” will become “goods” and the definition of a “distinguishing guise” will be repealed
– “distinctive” in relation to a trade-mark will describe a trade-mark that actually distinguishes or that is inherently capable of distinguishing the goods and services of the trade-mark’s owner from those of others