Peter Giddens Appointed Chair of INTA’s Trademark Office Practices Committee

Peter Giddens Appointed Chair of INTA’s Trademark Office Practices Committee

We are pleased to announce that Peter Giddens,  a partner in McMillan’s Intellectual Property Group, has been appointed Chair of the International Trademark Association’s (INTA) Trademark Offices Practices Committee (TOPC) for the 2018-2019 term.  This follows Peter’s tenure as Vice Chair of TOPC (2016-2017), and as inaugural Chair of the TOPC Canada subcommittee (2012-2015) where he was a driving force for brand owners during the Canadian government’s public consultations concerning Canada’s proposed accession to the Madrid  Protocol, the Nice Agreement and the Singapore Treaty and the resulting revisions to the Trade-marks Act and Regulations.

In his new position, Peter will oversee the eleven TOPC subcommittees which are focused on trademark offices in Africa and the Middle East, the Asia-Pacific region, Canada, China, the European National offices, India, Latin America, the United States, as well as the EU IPO, WIPO (Madrid System) and the offices comprising the TM5. Peter’s appointment to a leadership position with INTA is a significant honour, which acknowledges his hard work and expertise and the growing reputation of Peter and the firm’s Intellectual Property Group as thought leaders in brand protection. Peter has been consistently ranked as a leading lawyer in the area of Intellectual Property law in Best Lawyers in Canada, Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory, WTR 1000, and as a Trademark Star in IP Stars in the areas of Copyright and Trademark Litigation.

INTA is the global association of brand owners and professionals dedicated to supporting trademarks and related intellectual property in order to protect consumers and to promote fair and effective commerce. INTA’s TOPC evaluates and suggests improvements to trademark office practices, procedures, operations and regulations at the national, regional and international levels. TOPC monitors trademark office developments in various jurisdictions, undertakes analysis and proposes policy recommendations to the INTA Board.