Post-registration maintenance and renewals
Registration is the start of a maintenance cycle. This domain tests renewal mechanics, recordals, licensing, and the constant background risk of a section 45 notice.
Renewal
- The term is ten years from the registration date; renew before expiry, with a six-month grace period and surcharge available afterwards. Failure to renew means expungement.
- Canada requires no proof of use on renewal - a frequent contrast with the United States.
- Treat renewal as a portfolio audit: prune unused goods and services, record outstanding assignments, update the owner's name and address.
Recordals and licences
- Assignments must be in writing and should be recorded with the Registrar to perfect the chain of title.
- Use by a licensee enures to the owner where the owner controls the character or quality of the goods and services (s. 50); keep quality-control records.
- Changes of name and address should be recorded so the register matches the client's corporate records.
Section 45 exposure
- Any person may request a notice after three years from registration; the owner must then evidence use in Canada for each good and service during the three years preceding the notice.
- Special circumstances may excuse non-use, but the standard is demanding.
- Deleting unused goods during the proceeding is often the pragmatic answer.
Worked example
A registration from 2016 covers ten items in class 9. A notice issues in 2024, so the relevant period is 2021 to 2024. The client sells only two of the ten items. The advice: file evidence for those two - dated invoices, packaging, advertising - and delete the remaining eight from the registration. Filing a single "representative" invoice with no dates or Canadian nexus invites expungement of the whole registration.
Traps that cost marks
- Assuming renewal requires proof of use, or missing the grace period.
- Renewing in the name of the wrong owner because an assignment was never recorded.
- Ignoring a section 45 notice until the evidence deadline.
- Keeping broad specifications "for the future" and then losing them in a use proceeding.