The Trade-marks Opposition Board will be changing its practice as of March 31, 2009 through the introduction of a new practice notice entitled Practice in Trade-mark Opposition Proceedings. This new Practice in Trade-mark Opposition Proceedings, will replace the previous practice notice entitled “Procedure before the Trade-marks Opposition Board as of October 1, 2007“. However, trade-mark applications advertised prior to October 1, 2007 will remain subject to the Trade-marks Regulations as they read on September 30, 2007.
The changes to the new practice notice include:
- Simplifying and clarifying the Registrar’s benchmarks for granting extensions of time.
- Providing guidance with respect to the granting of extensions of time in exceptional circumstances.
- Encouraging parties to pursue settlement and mediation early in the opposition proceeding.
- Introducing a new practice of granting extensions of time amounting to a cooling-off period for parties to pursue settlement and mediation. In particular, the new practice notice will allow the opponent to request one extension of time up to a maximum benchmark of nine (9) months on consent either prior to filing its statement of opposition or its Rule 41(1) evidence with the possibility for the applicant to also request one further extension of time up to a maximum benchmark of nine (9) months on consent either prior to filing its counter statement or its Rule 42(1) evidence.
- Introducing a new practice with respect to the scheduling of hearings.
For the full text of the new Practice Notice see:
http://www.cipo.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/cipointernet-internetopic.nsf/eng/wr01558.html