Canadian trademark examiners are among federal employees on strike. The Trademarks Office remains open, so deadlines must be met. However, further delays in processing and examination are expected.
Thousands of federal public servants in Canada are on strike after the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) and the Government of Canada failed to reach an agreement for a “fair contract” on Tuesday, April 19, 2023. The strike was officially announced on Wednesday, April 20, 2023, and sees approximately 159,000 federal employees, across several government offices, off the job. Trademark examiners at the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) are members of PSAC and are therefore impacted by the strike. As CIPO remains open for business as usual, new filings can still be made and existing deadlines remain applicable and will not be automatically suspended. We can, however, expect delays in processing times, particularly with respect to trademark examination, given the striking examiners, which may increase the examination backlog that already exists.
We will continue to monitor the situation with a view to keeping our clients updated.