Canada is not an active participant in international treaties on intellectual property. It is currently a party to only 7 out of 25 treaties administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization: Convention establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization, Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, Patent Cooperation Treaty, Rome Convention (International Convention for the Protection of Performers, Producers of Phonograms and Broadcasting Organizations), Strasbourg Agreement Concerning the International Patent Classification, and Budapest Treaty on the International Recognition of the Deposit of Microorganisms for the Purposes of Patent Procedure.

Most notably, Canada is not a party to Madrid Agreement or Madrid Protocol, Nice Agreement, Phonograms Convention, WIPO Copyright Treaty, and WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty.

Below is the list of countries that are a party to 7 or less treaties: Afghanistan, Andorra, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Belize, Bhutan, Bolivia, Brunei Darussalam, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gambia, Grenada, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Holy See, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Kiribati, Kuwait, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Lebanon, Lesotho, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Malta, Marshall Islands, Mauritania, Mauritius, Micronesia, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nauru, Nepal, New Zealand, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Qatar, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, San Marino, Sao Tome and Principe, Saudi Arabia, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Tuvalu, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, Tanzania, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Yemen, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

With all due respect to India, New Zealand, South Africa, and the other sovereign states on this list – am I the only one who is not overly impressed by the company of the countries that Canada finds itself in?

Of course, there are many underdeveloped countries that have joined many IP-related treaties, so the correlation may not be perfect. But still, does anybody else see the problem with Canada’s participation in intellectual property treaties equal of that of Rwanda?

PS. On September 10, 2012 New Zealand acceded to the Madrid Protocol and the Singapore Treaty on the Law of Trademarks, so it should be removed from this list.