In order to keep up with the pace of trademark development in the world, the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) has changed its previous policies and management, actively considered innovation, and plans to allow the registration of certain non-traditional trademarks. CIPO has published a trial notice recognizing the registrability of holograms and moving images as trademarks. This is the Canadian Intellectual Property Office’s first recognition of this issue, which is different from protecting product shape marks. This move was highly praised by trademark experts. "In general, most industry insiders are pleased with this trial notice, which brings Canada into line with other countries in the world, such as the United States, in recognizing the trademark registrability of mobile logos," said lawyer Susan Keri. A registered trademark attorney and a partner at Bereskin & Parr LLP in Toronto commented. “But the possibility of trademark registration for other types of non-traditional logos remains to be discussed.” As for trademark experts, although they are hopeful, they are full of doubts about when CIPO will publish new guidance on trademark registration of holograms and moving logos. These experts believe that CIPO is extremely busy every day. In the past two years, CIPO has issued a number of trial drafts and implementation announcements, and last year solicited opinions on its proposal to amend the trademark law to be more consistent with modern business practices and international standards. CIPO is considering aligning Canada's trademark system with the World Intellectual Property Office's Protocol Relating to the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks and the Singapore Treaty on the Law of Trademarks. Trisha Doré, a registered trademark attorney with Acura Trademark Services LLP in Vancouver, points out that this is a time-consuming matter. “A lot has changed in the last two years,” points out Doré, who has been practicing in the field of trademark law since 1989. "People in this industry really don't have an accurate estimate of what will happen in this field. The next step may be to publish the draft implementation guidance for non-traditional mark registration, or to join the Madrid Protocol. The Trademark Office has so many problems to solve. But At one point, we must first keep up with the times and keep up with the development speed of other countries in the world." According to Richard Stobbe, an intellectual property lawyer at Field Law LLP, the trademark registrability of non-traditional signs such as holograms and moving signs is recognized. Just a small step in the right direction. It is unconvincing to say that if Canada does not recognize holograms and moving logos as registrable trademarks, the country will be at an "economic disadvantage", but Stobbe does believe that "if we cannot keep pace with the development of the world in these areas ”, and over time, Canada will “reflect poorly” on the outside world. Although holograms and mobile logos may not necessarily become the mainstream of trademark registration in the future, they do point the way for trademark owners to expand the scope of registrable trademarks. “The more competitive the market, the more innovative trademark owners can become in order to attract consumers’ attention,” Stobbe commented. In this trial notice, on the one hand, it mentioned the obstacles faced by non-traditional trademarks in becoming registrable trademarks in the past, and at the same time, it also hinted that registering non-traditional logos as trademarks will still face challenges. According to Stobbe, the Canadian Trademark Office's consistent position is that for a registrable trademark, it must be "intuitively described" into something that can be seen. This is why non-traditional trademarks such as sounds, smells, tastes and tactile marks cannot be registered in Canada. for trademark reasons. However, in the past two years, CIPO seems to have taken the position that in order to implement reforms, it is not necessary to amend the trademark law. “It’s interesting because the Trademark Office has made a more flexible interpretation of the current legislation and put forward some new formal requirements for the application process,” Keri said. Keri also said that unlike in the past, the pilot notice seems to leave room for the possibility of registering non-traditional logos as trademarks, even though non-traditional logos cannot be "visible". In fact, CIPO seems to be more flexible in the description of applications for registering holograms or moving signs as trademarks, as long as the descriptions include one or more accurate drawings of the sign, a description of the scope of the sign, and a clear indication that it is a hologram. The expression of a picture or moving logo is sufficient. Previously, the Canadian Trademark Office's view was that an application to register a moving mark was an application for multiple marks rather than a single mark. "This is a big improvement, but the industry still needs to be aware that the law regarding trademark use has not changed yet," Keri said.

"The mark must be used in the ordinary course of trade and must be used as a trademark before it is registrable. I think this is still a considerable obstacle to the registration of holograms and mobile marks."