The Business Relief Unit at the Ministry of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade (the “Ministry”) is contacting your organization as a stakeholder in one of Ontario’s key sectors to collect valuable input to potentially improve the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO)’s process of issuing a trademark for goods and/or services in Canada.
Specifically, we are asking your organization to share terms from your sector that can be added to the Goods and Services Manual, developed by CIPO (please see more information about the Manual below). Trademark applicants can avoid rejections by selecting existing terms found in the Goods and Services Manual. As such, adding additional terms to the Goods and Services Manual would result in shorter processing timelines for the issuance of trademarks in Canada.
Following your input, we will share your proposed terms with CIPO, and their office will determine if your proposed terms should be incorporated into the Goods and Services Manual.
Disclaimer: Please note that information provided in this survey is not intended to be relied upon as legal advice in respect of trademark, intellectual property or any other matters. Participants should contact legal counsel to obtain independent legal advice with respect to any such matter. For any questions about the Goods and Services Manual, please contact CIPO directly.
Important Information about Confidentiality and Consent to Disclose to CIPO
Your organization’s confidentiality and consent are important to the Ministry. Please note that the Ministry is bound by the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. F.31 (the “Act”), as amended from time to time, and any information provided to the Ministry, may be subject to disclosure under the Act. In your responses to survey questions below, please do not include any trade secret or scientific, technical, commercial, financial or labour relations information of your organization. If you would like to share any such information with the Ministry, please contact standardson@ontario.ca directly and indicate to the Ministry if you are comfortable with the Ministry sharing the same with CIPO. In addition, please do not include any personal information as defined under the Act. This survey will be open until August 2023. Thank you for your time and input.
About the Goods and Services Manual:
The Goods and Services Manual, used by CIPO, is a searchable database which is designed to assist applicants in compiling the statements of goods or services required to file a Canadian trademark application conforming to the latest version of the Nice International Classification System for Registration of Marks. The Manual is comprised of pre-approved terms deemed acceptable by CIPO for expedited approval of trademarks.
Note: Your responses to this survey, including your email, will only be shared with staff within the Ministry and CIPO solely for the purpose of updating the Goods and Services Manual. Your organization will have an opportunity to indicate your consent for the Ministry to share any information collected in this survey with CIPO for the purpose described above.