In Scott Paper Limited v. Smart & Biggar, the Federal Court of Appeal overturned a string of case law that deviated from the wording of section 45. The appellate court agreed with the trial judge that the Registrar erred in deciding not to expunge the trade-mark “VANITY” despite 13 years of non-use. We previously discussed different aspects of this “use-it or lose-it” provision.

The issue in this case was whether plans to use the trademark in the immediate future saved an unused trademark from expungement. In determining that future use amounted to special circumstances, the Registrar purported to rely on the three criteria laid down in Registrar of Trade-marks v. Harris Knitting Mills, namely the length of time during which the trademark has not been in use, whether reasons for the absence were due to circumstances beyond the control of the owner, and a serious intention to shortly resume use.

However, the Federal Court of Appeal found that the Registrar was “in fact, relying upon the gloss put upon Harris Knitting Mills in … Lander Co v. Alex E MacRae and Co.. Later in the Scott Paper judgment, the Federal Court of Appeal explained that “[i]t is important to distinguish between explaining an absence of use and excusing an absence of use”. Thus, special circumstances must explain the absence of use and the three criteria are used to determine if the absence is excused.

This distinction arises directly from section 45(3), which requires that “the absence of use” must not have been “due to special circumstances that excuse the absence of use”. It is clear from the statute that plans for future use cannot amount to special circumstances.

Finally, it is worth noting that special circumstances are an exception to the general rule that the absence of use is penalized by expungement. Thus, special circumstances must be “special” and are not found in most cases. In other words, section 45 is the “use-it or lose-it unless you have a really good explanation of why you did not use-it” provision.

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