The delays in Canadian trademark examination are becoming
excruciating. The
Trademarks Act and
the
Trademark Regulations provisions do not
expressly provide for expedited examination of a Canadian trademark
application. The long-standing practice of the Canadian
Intellectual Property Office ("CIPO") was to refuse
requests for the expedited examination. Section 2.2 of the
Trademark Examination Manual, the guide for trademark examiners,
states:
CIPO generally examines trademark applications in the order they
are received. The advancement of an application out of order
creates a favoured position at the expense of other applicants and
therefore the Registrar does not consider requests for expedited
examination.
CIPO's Performance Targets