Trademarks Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. T-13)

Marginal note:Effect of registration in relation to previous use, etc.

• 17 (1) No application for registration of a trademark that has been advertised in accordance with section 37 shall be refused and no registration of a trademark shall be expunged or amended or held invalid on the ground of any previous use or making known of a confusing trademark or trade name by a person other than the applicant for that registration or his predecessor in title, except at the instance of that other person or his successor in title, and the burden lies on that other person or his successor to establish that he had not abandoned the confusing trademark or trade name at the date of advertisement of the applicant’s application.

• Marginal note:When registration incontestable

  (2) In proceedings commenced after the expiration of five years from the date of registration of a trademark or from July 1, 1954, whichever is the later, no registration shall be expunged or amended or held invalid on the ground of the previous use or making known referred to in subsection (1), unless it is established that the person who adopted the registered trademark in Canada did so with knowledge of that previous use or making known.