We are pleased to announce that Paula Clancy will be a lecturer at McGill's Summer IP program (Understanding Trademarks), offered in partnership with the Intellectual Property Institute of Canada (IPIC).

Attendees can look forward to learning about trademark procurement, proceedings, portfolio management, as well as advanced topics such as opposition and cancellation proceedings.

Spots are still open. If interested, sign up here.

​The team at Clancy PC has been preparing since its announcement and is ready to welcome the new legislation into Canada. Key changes include:

• Reducing the registration period from 15 years to 10;
• The elimination of the requirement to file a Declaration of Use if a trademark application is based on proposed use;
• The elimination of associations between marks; and,
• The introduction of a per-class filing fee.

For more information on Canada's changes in legislation, contact us.

Article by Nathalie Siah.

The Toronto Maple Leafs have opposed Snoop Dogg’s trademark for his new cannabis brand “Leafs by Snoop,” in both Canada and the US. 

The Maple Leafs have taken issue with the cannabis brand “Leafs by Snoop” on the basis that it infringes on its signature marks that have been in use for decades.

Specifically, the Leafs have objected to the incorrect spelling of “leafs” (rather than “leaves”) arguing that this creates a direct association with the Toronto hockey team. 

We will continue to monitor this case to see how Snoop fares in this trademark battle.

A competitor to popular children’s animated TV series Peppa Pig has come to the playground—a tapir with the mark “TOBBIA”.

The show Peppa Pig is known for its 2-dimensional drawings and centers around Peppa, a young pig, her family and friends. Its creation over a decade ago has become an icon for young children around the world.

In April 2015, Entertainment One UK Ltd and Astley Baker Davies, owners of the Peppa Pig Mark filed an application for a declaration of invalidity against Xianhao Pan’s trademark for “TOBBIA”. Both marks are associated with Class 25 "clothing".

The case was originally heard by the EUIPO Cancellation Division and, to much surprise, the court held the marks were not confusingly similar. The decision was appealed to the EUIPO First Board of Appeal. It was here that the marks were reviewed for similarities and differences, visually, aurally and conceptually.

In regards to the visual similarities, the Appeal Board found the shape of the head and snout to be almost identical as well as the ears, cheeks and eyes. In addition, the shape of the bodies was also found to be very similar.

The elements of the word were also considered. The Board noted that aurally, the double letter in the middle of both words “Peppa” and “Tobbia” would be similar when spoken. Xianhao Pan's argument that the animal depicted in his mark was a tapir, not a pig, was dismissed by the board.

The Appeal Board declared the “TOBBIA” mark invalid in the EU for all goods.
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For more information about EU trademarks, please contact us.

We have been advised by our Brazilian colleagues that the Brazilian Patent and Trademarks Office will be closed for an extended period between June 5 and June 10, 2019 as they conduct a data migration. Please ensure that we have instructions in advance for any matters with a deadline that falls between this time period.