Starting January 2025, the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (“CIPO”) launched a pilot project to proactively issue Section 45 Notices against randomly selected trademark registrations.

Section 45 of the Trademarks Act provides a straightforward and efficient procedure for removing trademarks that have fallen into disuse.

Section 45 expungement / non-use proceedings are considered a tool for removing trademarks that are deemed “deadwood” from the Register.

The pilot aims to ensure the Register accurately reflects trademarks that are in use in association with the goods and services listed.

The process for response to a “Registrar-initiated” non-use cancellation will be streamlined, permitting a registrant to provide evidence of use during the relevant period in a more efficient manner with the potential to have the proceeding withdrawn or resolved quickly.

For the purposes of the pilot project, registrations will be randomly selected from the following categories:

  1. Registrations based on use.
  2. Registrations based on proposed use for which a declaration of use was filed.
  3. Registrations based on use and registration abroad.
  4. Registrations with multiple bases.
  5. Registrations that have been on the Register for more than three years.

The pilot begins with a batch of 100 Section 45 notices in January 2025, followed by two more batches of 50 notices each in February and March 2025.

When a statistically significant number of Registrar-initiated Section 45 proceedings have concluded, CIPO will organize consultations to gather feedback as to which types of registrations it will target in the future, or whether it will discontinue the practice.

Trademark owners should consider conducting an audit to ensure proper trademark "use," which has a specific technical meaning under the Trademarks Act. With proper planning and record-keeping, trademark owners can avoid the loss of their valuable trademark registrations.