Doing Business in Canada: Protecting Luxury Brands From Counterfeiting (Part 4)

This article is Part 4 of Protecting Luxury Brands From Counterfeiting, a four-part series on the legal and practical issues luxury brands most often face when operating in or selling to Canada. Part 1 addressed the upstream question of legal and operational readiness. Part 2 turned to the border itself: the statutory framework, the operational mechanics of the Canada Border Services Agency Intellectual Property Rights Program and the response planning a luxury brand should have in place before a detention occurs. Part 3 addressed issues international brands commonly face when counterfeit goods are promoted or sold through online marketplaces, social media accounts, websites and abusive domain names. Part 4 focuses on what enforcement looks like after counterfeit activity is identified, including civil proceedings, criminal options, customs detention and recent Canadian precedents that provide guidance.

Canada’s anti-counterfeiting enforcement framework is largely rights-holder driven. As the main tool, civil proceedings allow the brand to control timing, seek injunctions, preserve evidence, obtain destruction orders and pursue monetary relief. Criminal enforcement and customs detention can be powerful, but usually require strong evidentiary background, co-ordination and a clear commercial-scale or public-interest basis.

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