Recently, Canada has joined the Madrid System for the International Registration of Marks. The treaty comes into force today, on 17 June 2019, and forms part of wider reforms to Canadian intellectual property law. The Madrid Union currently has 104 members representing more than 80 % of world trade.

With Canada’s accession to the Protocol to the Madrid Agreement (PMMA), it is now possible, as an alternative to a Canadian trademark application, to extend the protection of a German or European Union trademark to Canada by way of international registration. A request for territorial extension to Canada may also be made subsequently to an international registration and will be effective from the date on which it has been recorded in the International Register.