Industry committee  Yes, the United States is a party to all three.

Industry committee  I can't disagree with that. I agree.

Industry committee  Yes. The committee undertook eight excellent sessions and heard from a variety of witnesses. One of the recommendations was actually that Canada ratify all of the treaties that were listed in the budget, the first three of which are in the BIA.

Industry committee  The point you're raising is that we could see an increase in or an expansion of the number of trademark registrations from abroad that are broad in scope. That's the normal concept of a troll. Instead of identifying just one product or number of products that I'll bring to market, I'll just try to seek to protect the full scope of the marketplace for that product.

Industry committee  Yes, that's correct.

Industry committee  Yes.

Industry committee  I would absolutely agree with that. Actually, there are very few ICT companies that can survive in only the Canadian marketplace. Certainly everyone I meet with has an export strategy. That's a key part of their growth plan because they very quickly hit the limits in Canada.

Industry committee  Well, the consequences would be the exact reverse of all the benefits we've talked about. The compliance cost savings we're talking about would not materialize. The easy access and the ability to register in foreign jurisdictions with one filing and one language and paying one fee would not materialize.

Industry committee  We don't have strict international obligations to implement the protocols. The way the process is sequenced is that we would only accede to the treaties; that is, we would only agree to implement them legally in Canada, at the point when we had undertaken the administrative regulatory and legislative changes to be in a position to join the system.

Industry committee  Absolutely, and you're right. Often, when we travel internationally one of the complaints that's brought forward points around how well Canada's IP regime has evolved. We hadn't up to this point signed on to the three treaties that are recognized and have been implemented by all of our trading partners.

Industry committee  I'll start, and I'll allow Darlene to add onto it. Generally, for large corporations, the advantages to them will be immediate, to the extent that you have companies right now that are protecting their trademark in many jurisdictions, and then do that through the Madrid Protocol, and then are required to do a special process for Canada.

Industry committee  Efficiency, absolutely. The efficiency gains will happen, especially with companies that want to enter other marketplaces. For example, right now if a Canadian company wants to sell products in, say, three other countries in Europe, they need to get lawyers in those countries. If they want to sell in South America, they have to get lawyers in South America.

Industry committee  It's not part of the Canada-Europe free trade agreement, although when we were preparing advice and advising the government on this, we certainly felt there was a strong convergence. With the fact that a trade deal had just been done with Europe and there were huge opportunities for Canadian companies to access those markets, greater than before, IP administration was a natural thing to also bring into alignment.

Industry committee  I think the easiest answer is around how much national debate and parliamentary debate took place around the Copyright Act. Had that act been done more quickly, I think people would have looked at other international agreements. That was such a difficult journey for Canada to get through that some things were delayed, and this was one of them.

Industry committee  Over the entire period? I don't know the originals....