Key Changes to Trademark Examination Practice in Canada (CIPO – 2025)

 

On July 16, 2025, the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) announced significant changes to its trademark examination practices. These changes directly affect both the order of examination and the use of goods and services descriptions in trademark applications.

Elimination of accelerated examination

Since 2021, trademark applications listing only pre-approved goods and services from the CIPO Goods and Services Manual had been examined on an accelerated basis. As Examiners were not required to assess the acceptability of such terms, these applications benefited from shorter wait times to examination.

CIPO has now discontinued this practice. Going forward, all trademark applications—regardless of whether they include pre-approved terms, custom descriptions, or a combination—will be placed in the same examination queue.

Under this new system, CIPO anticipates that the time to first examination will decrease to approximately 9 months.

Background: Backlog and increased filings

Trademark examination timelines in Canada had significantly increased following the country’s accession to the Madrid System and the removal of the “use” requirement for registration. By early 2024, wait times to examination had exceeded 1,700 days, approaching nearly five years.

In contrast, applications containing only pre-approved terms were typically processed faster—around 2.5 years—encouraging applicants to rely heavily on such terms.

Formal process for proposing goods and services

CIPO has also formalized the process for submitting recommendations to add new goods and services to the Goods and Services Manual.

Under the new framework:

  • Applicants may submit proposed goods/services for inclusion in the Manual
  • CIPO will respond within 4 weeks
  • The objective is to ensure that the Manual remains comprehensive and up to date, particularly in emerging and specialized fields

Practical impact

With the removal of accelerated examination, applicants may be less inclined to rely exclusively on pre-approved terms and may instead choose more tailored descriptions that better reflect their actual or intended use.

However, using pre-approved terms is still expected to provide advantages. Such terms are less likely to attract objections during examination, potentially leading to faster overall registration.

Under the new system, an application that includes only pre-approved terms and faces no objections could proceed to registration in approximately one year, representing a significant improvement compared to previous timelines.