Canada's anti-fake legislation moves closer

Canada's Combating Counterfeit Products Act is finally moving forward after months of debate, passing a third reading in Parliament.

The CCPA was first introduced in March 2013 and re-introduced the following November with identical wording, and is designed to provide rights owners and enforcement authorities with a framework for combating counterfeiting, including new civil and criminal penalties for trademark and copyright infringements.

The act - which amends Canada's Copyright Act and the Trademarks Act - will ensure that selling, distributing, possessing, importing or exporting counterfeit goods for the purpose of trade will be prohibited and subject to fines and possible jail time.

Specifically, if passed it will create new civil causes of action with respect to sustaining commercial activities in infringing copies and counterfeit trademarked goods, as well as new criminal offences for trademark counterfeiting that are similar to existing offences in the Copyright Act.

The legislation would also introduce a new border regime that will allow trademark and copyright owners to submit a "request for assistance" to the Canada Border Services Agency, which would then have the power to detain suspect shipments and share information on the detained goods with rights owners, giving them an opportunity to pursue a remedy in court. Previously, rights holders had to obtain a court order before they could get a shipment detained.

Police will also for the first time be allowed to use measures such as a wiretap to investigate offences under the Copyright Act and the Trademarks Act.

The importation and exportation of copies and goods by an individual for his or her personal use are however exempt from the application of the border measures.

The third reading was passed despite a spirited debate in the Canadian parliament, with some lawmakers asking how the new legislation could be implemented given that the funding for the Canada Border Services Agency has been cut and there are fewer officers on the front line.

Others questioned why there are no clauses dealing with counterfeit shipments passing through Canada en route to a third country.