After the legislation was tabled, we received some comments, or I believe comments were supplied to the committee with respect to the exact drafting and whether it actually fulfilled the entire intention of the provision. I'll provide a bit of information on where the law stands as it is now, on what it would do unamended, and what the amendment seeks to do.
Currently with respect to a registered trademark, you have protection against a mark that is identical to or confusing in regard to that mark for the same goods that are listed on the trademark register or for goods that would be confusing with the list on the register. What Bill C-8 also sought to do, under clause 21, is that not only is that infringement at the time of sale, which it currently is, but it would also seek it earlier in the supply chain, so that's importing for the purposes of sale or manufacturing for the purposes of sale.
However, the way it was drafted, it limited those new civil causes of action to only the explicitly registered goods or services on the registry. This created a bit of discord between what's an infringement to sell versus what's an infringement earlier in the supply chain.
It can be difficult to follow, so I think it would be best to use an example. Since it's everyone's favourite example, we'll look at Canada Goose. They registered their trademark for jackets, but they didn't—hypothetically—register it for mittens and gloves, for example, which are also winter attire. If somebody were selling a knock-off version with a counterfeit Canada Goose mark on gloves, that would be infringing, because it would be confusing with a registered trademark, even it weren't explicitly listed on the registry.
Bill C-8 sought to ensure that not only is that at the time of sale, but that it is also earlier in the supply chain. Bill C-8, if unamended, would allow an infringement for anyone importing for the purpose of sale, or manufacturing for the purpose of sale, for example, those coats or jackets, but not those gloves or mittens. What the restructuring ensures is that whatever is an infringement to sell is also an infringement to manufacture for the purposes of sale. It's filling a gap there in the protection for types of wares and services that aren't on the trademark registry.