02 Aug 2021

Benoit Cote

What do baseball and the Madrid Protocol have in common? Statistics!

We are looking forward for Montreal to welcome a baseball team but, in the meantime, I am happy to share statistics about the Madrid Protocol in Canada. In about a week, we will pass the 2 year mark of Canada’s accession to the Madrid Protocol.

In 2021, more than 8000 applications designating Canada have been filed so far. In 2020, Canada was a country of choice with more than 21000 applications filed. More than 2600 Protocol applications and subsequent designations are pending. Canada has chosen to extend the deadline to 18 months to send provisional refusals to the International Bureau. And, (drumroll), a whopping 4600 applications were refused.

A quick take-away?

A knowledgeable Canadian agent remains your best option to navigate through the Canadian system. Unless a Canadian Trademark agent is appointed, the Canadian Intellectual Property Office will issue correspondence regarding the Canadian Protocol application directly to the applicant. Therefore, it is essential that a Canadian agent be appointed so that the foreign agent be informed of the progress in the prosecution of an application by someone other than his client.

So, until the Montreal Expos return, I will cheer our hockey team, the Montreal Canadiens!

Source: Madrid System Statistics (wipo.int)

Written by:

Suzanne Antal, Shareholder and Trademark Agent: suzanne@benoit-cote.com