Don’t Ignore That Notice!

The case Medos Services Corporation v. Ridout and Maybee LLP 2013 FC 1006 is an example of what happens when the owner of a registered trademark ignores a Section 45 notice.

As a basic premise a registered trademark must be used in order to maintain those rights and a procedure exists under Section 45 of the Trade-Marks Act to weed out dead wood from the Register. Upon receipt of such a notice the registered owner has three months to provide an affidavit or statutory declaration showing, with respect to each of the wares or services specified in the registration, whether the trademark was in use during Canada at any time in the previous three years and, if not, the date when it was last used and the reason why it has not been used since.

In this case the Registrar of Trade-marks, at the request of...