Overview of Canadian Trademark Law

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A trademark is most often known as a symbol, word, or phrase that is used in commerce to distinguish a particular seller’s wares from that of another ("Trade-marks Act")( Wensley & Caraway). The protection of trademarks within the Canadian trademark law is not only emphasized within the Trade-marks Act, but also decreed under common law, similarly known as the rulings dictated by federal judiciaries ("Canadian trademark law"). This implies that trademarks can either be registered under the Act, or safeguarded by a common law action called “passing off.” Passing off is a crucial mean of protecting a registered trademark through section 7(b) and 7(c) of the Act that deliberates the tort of such a regulation ("Canadian trademark law"). Both statutes ensure the protection of not only trademarks but also certification marks, distinctive marks, proposed marks, service marks, and distinguishing guises against perpetrators who either defraud the goodwill of these marks or generate confusion in relation to it. For a plaintiff to prove that trademark infringement has occurred, he/she needs to illustrate either the existence of goodwill within the market area, that the defendant’s use of mark or trade name exemplified the misrepresentation of wares, or that such falsification caused harm to the organization ("Canadian trademark law"). The owner of the trademark has an advantage through Section 19, 20, and 22 of the Act, which sanction for the exclusive rights to the mark throughout Canada in relevance to the products and services it was generated for, prohibiting the distribution of wares in association with a confusing trademark by unapproved individuals, and/or obstructing non-owners from using the mark in a manner that may result in the v...

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