The Canadian Union of Postal Workers has announced a rotating postal strike in Canada.   If the Union and Canada Post do not reach an agreement, it is likely that the strike will escalate.  A full strike will mean that mail will not be delivered in Canada, including outgoing correspondence from the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (“CIPO”).

While CIPO has a policy to ensure that correspondence may be delivered to CIPO and its designated establishments throughout Canada, it does not have a policy or plans to deal with outgoing correspondence to trademark applicants/owners and their agents.  Consequently, if the postal stike carries on for an extended period there may be some adverse consequences for trademark applicants/owners if they or their agents are not taking alternate or additional steps to monitor applications/registrations for any correspondence issued by CIPO with respect to same during the strike.