WIPR Leaders 2019: Canada Trademarks Practice Update

The recent trend had been that trademarks covering “hotel services” could not be maintained in summary non-use cancellation proceedings, without a bricks and mortar hotel. However, the Federal Court’s decision in Hilton Worldwide Holding v Miller Thomson (2018) has bucked the trend, reversing the Registrar’s decision to expunge the registration for Hilton’s world-famous trademark ‘Waldorf-Astoria’ for “hotel services” because it did not have a hotel in Canada.