How long do you have to oppose a Canadian trademark?
Two months
from publication.
Trademarks Act (Canada) s.38(1) gives two months from advertisement in the Trademarks Journal. An extension can take that to 4 months, but it has to be asked for. Work to the base date.
Statutory. Last read against the statute on .
01 / The date that matters
Publication. Not filing, and not registration.
The application is examined first, then published. The clock starts at publication. Counting from the filing date makes you early, which is harmless. Counting from registration makes you late, which is not.
- 01
Filed
The application is lodged and examined. Nothing is running yet.
- 02
Published
The two months opposition window opens. This is the only date that counts.
- 03
Registered
Opposition is gone. What remains is cancellation, slower and dearer.
02 / The trap
Not every office works this way.
Canada opens the window at publication of the application, as most offices do. But Switzerland, Germany, Japan and Sweden register the mark first and run opposition from publication of the registration.
Applying one office’s rule to another does not shift a deadline by a few days. It invents one that never existed, and the real one may already have closed.
03 / If the window has closed
It is not over, but the route changed.
Once opposition lapses you are into cancellation or invalidity: a different action, different evidence, more cost, lower odds. Worth knowing early: a holder whose own book is largely lapsed or withdrawn is more vulnerable to a non-use challenge than the register first suggests.
04 / Every office we cover
The same question,
answered per register.
05 / The record
Read from the register,
with the provision beside it.
Intelligence, not legal advice. Your counsel confirms the date and acts on it. This window and its provision were last read against the statute on .