Does Canada have a law like the US DMCA takedown notice?

Not in the same way. Canada's Copyright Act uses notice and notice. Under sections 41.25 and 41.26, an intermediary that receives a compliant notice forwards it to the person behind the content and keeps records. Neither section requires the intermediary to remove the content.

What does a notice of claimed infringement have to contain in Canada?

It must be in writing and identify the copyright owner, the work, the claimed infringement and the location of the content. It must not contain an offer to settle the claim or a demand for payment or personal information.

What happens if an intermediary does not forward a notice in Canada?

The owner's only remedy under section 41.26 is statutory damages of not less than $5,000 and not more than $10,000, in an amount the court considers just. The section does not provide for fines or criminal penalties.

Do I have to register my product photos with CIPO to send a notice?

No. CIPO says copyright exists as soon as an original work is created and fixed in a material form, and that registration is voluntary. A registration certificate is evidence that copyright subsists in the work, though a court can still challenge that evidence.

Does Canada have a DMCA-style takedown for copied product photos?

Q: How do I get a copied listing removed from Amazon.ca or eBay.ca?

Use the marketplace's own program. Amazon runs Brand Registry and a public infringement form on amazon.ca. eBay.ca runs VeRO, with a Notice of Claimed Infringement form and a VeRO Portal. Each platform decides what to remove under its own policy.

What is Canada's notice and notice regime?

It is a short set of rules in the Copyright Act. Section 41.25 says a copyright owner may send a notice of claimed infringement to an intermediary, a person who provides network services or who hosts content. Section 41.26 sets out what the intermediary must then do.

The name describes the mechanism. The owner sends a notice to the intermediary, and the intermediary passes a notice on to the person who is behind the content. Nothing in either section tells the intermediary to take that content down.

What must a notice of claimed infringement contain?

Section 41.25 requires the notice to be in writing and to identify the copyright owner and give contact details, the work or other subject-matter, the owner's interest in it, the location data of the claimed infringement, the claimed infringement itself, and the date and time of the alleged infringement. It must also follow any form prescribed by regulation.

The section also lists what a notice must not contain. It cannot include an offer to settle the claimed infringement, or a reference to such an offer. It cannot include a request or demand for payment or personal information, or a reference to one. That is a real difference from a letter that threatens a claim and demands money, because a notice that includes those items is not a compliant notice.

What does the intermediary have to do?

Under section 41.26(1), once the intermediary receives a compliant notice it must, after payment of any lawful fee, forward the notice electronically to the person who owns the identified electronic location, as soon as feasible. It must also tell the owner that it forwarded the notice, or explain why it could not.

The intermediary must also keep records that let the identity of that person be determined. The retention period is six months from receipt of the notice. If the owner starts court proceedings and tells the intermediary within those six months, the period extends to one year.

Section 41.26(2) deals with fees: the minister may set a maximum fee by regulation, and if none is set, the intermediary may not charge anything for these duties.

Does the law require the intermediary to remove the content?

No. Neither section 41.25 nor section 41.26 contains a removal duty. The statute's remedy for an intermediary that does not do what section 41.26 requires is statutory damages, in an amount the court considers just, of not less than $5,000 and not more than $10,000. The section does not provide for fines or criminal penalties.

That tells you what the regime is for. It puts a notice in front of the person behind the content and preserves information about who that person is. It does not give a copyright owner a statutory way to force a listing off a marketplace.

We have not verified whether a particular marketplace counts as an intermediary under section 41.25, and that is a question for qualified Canadian counsel. We only describe what the sections say.

How do I get a copied listing removed from Amazon.ca or eBay.ca?

Since the statute does not mandate removal, the practical route is the marketplace's own program.

Amazon. Amazon runs Brand Registry, and its Brand Registry page lists Canada among its stores. Amazon asks for a trademark issued by the designated government trademark office of a country with a corresponding Amazon store, and recommends submitting a trademark for each store you sell in. Pending applications are accepted in some cases. Amazon also runs a public infringement reporting form on amazon.ca for rights owners who are not enrolled.
eBay. eBay.ca runs VeRO for rights owners and their authorized representatives. Reports go through a Notice of Claimed Infringement form or the VeRO Portal. It covers listings that infringe intellectual property rights, counterfeit, fake or replica items, and copyrighted content used without permission. It does not cover controlling where or how a product is resold, or preventing sales below a certain price.

In each case the platform decides what to remove under its own policy. A well-prepared notice shows the original and the copy side by side, identifies who owns the rights, and gives the exact listing address.

Do I need to register my photos for a notice to work?

No. CIPO's guide to copyright says a work is protected by copyright the moment it is created and fixed in a material form, and that registering with CIPO is voluntary but can be beneficial. A certificate of registration is evidence that copyright subsists in the work. A court can still challenge that evidence, and CIPO does not verify the claims made in an application.

There is no international copyright registration system. CIPO notes that treaties such as the Berne Convention and the WIPO Copyright Treaty extend copyright protection to foreign jurisdictions without registration. A US brand that took its own product photos therefore has copyright to point to in Canada without filing anything there first. Each marketplace still decides what proof it wants to see, so keep the original files and dates.

What about my trademark?

A US trademark does not cover Canada. The USPTO states in its overseas IP toolkit that trademarks are territorial and must be filed in each country where protection is sought, and CIPO's trademarks guide says registration protects your rights in Canada only. For Amazon, that makes a Canadian mark relevant to Canadian enrollment. For copied photos, copyright can be the faster claim while a trademark application is pending.

The filing date matters. CIPO says the filing date is the date used to decide who is entitled to registration when co-pending applications are confusing. On agents, CIPO says you do not have to hire one but that it is often advisable.

This is general information, not legal advice.

Key takeaways

Canada uses notice and notice under sections 41.25 and 41.26 of the Copyright Act. It is not a mandatory takedown regime.
A compliant notice is in writing, identifies the owner, the work and the location of the claimed infringement, and does not offer to settle or demand payment or personal information.
The intermediary forwards the notice as soon as feasible and keeps records for six months, or one year if proceedings start in time.
Neither section requires removal, so marketplace takedowns rely on each platform's own policy, such as Amazon Brand Registry or eBay.ca VeRO.
Copyright exists automatically in Canada, and CIPO registration is voluntary.
A US trademark does not protect you in Canada.

What we do

Hauserman Listing Guard is not a law firm. We monitor Amazon.ca and eBay.ca, prepare the evidence, file human-reviewed notices as the brand owner's authorized agent, and confirm each listing comes down. Where Canadian legal work is needed, we coordinate qualified Canadian counsel so you keep one point of contact. See our Canada brand protection page for coverage, pricing and the sources behind these statements.

Sources

Hauserman Listing Guard is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice. This article is general information about platform procedures, not legal advice about your situation. For legal questions, talk to independent licensed IP counsel.