So, yes, it seems that James Bond has entered the public domain in Canada. I wonder, though, what kind of legal hammers would be brought down upon someone who tried to do any sort of adaptation or reproduction of the work in another medium. Could an animated adaptation of the novels (or even just an illustrated version) be made, and if so, what limitations would be in place (or what legal ramifications would need to be considered) given that in the US this material is NOT in the public domain, and would at least require licensing (I assume) to be distributed in the US?
It's Public Domain, but not really? :P (I'm from Canada, and I'd love to explore using some of these works creatively, but it's tough to unravel what is and isn't kosher).
Interestingly enough, I did do a quick Trademark search, and it turns out that, while the "James Bond 007 & Gun"[0] is a registered trademark in Canada, the name "James Bond" is not yet trademarked[1]. There is a search done and a proposed usage, but a registration has not yet taken place. Looks like the next action taken on the file will be on Jan 31st, 2015.
I admit, though, it's pretty murky territory. Even the government site I used to search this indicates that the information may not be reliable, as some of it is provided via 3rd party.
Yes, registered trademarks are a different beast to mere trademarks where as you say it is normally required to prove confusion.
But the "confusion" in question is not just that this mark sounds like another it is that the public will be confused about the origin of the goods that the trademark is applied to. Trademarks indicate the origin of goods or services.
So, if your film is "valleyer's presentation of James Bond, not associated with the estate of A R Broccoli" then clearly no member of the public will be confused and by rights you should then be free to use an unregistered mark. Sadly money has a way of talking louder than democracy.
A name can't really be trademarked in such a broad way, afaik (though, IANAL). This would prevent you from using James Bond as a trade name, obviously, but can't prevent you from having the character in a story. So, you might be able to name your story or film "Never Eat Pasta Again" and have Bond as your main character and win a court case.
Also I'm pretty sure the trademark in question applies specifically to films (held by ION Studios), but someone can correct me if I'm wrong.
A character name can be trademarked if that character appears in copyrighted works, particularly if it appears in a series. James Bond can thus be trademarked, in the same way that Harry Potter, Frodo Baggins, Sherlock Holmes, et al are trademarked.
But the name is only protected in the sense that it is attached to the character. The character has to be distinct and unique, not a trope or stereotype character (except, obviously, the prototype character). And the character has to be integral to a copyrighted story. The courts are far from agreed on this standard, obviously, so that's as much as I can say about it.
And it isn't really even a full trademark. It's more like an artificial "name and likeness" right of publicity. Those rights vary by state. That creates some interesting scenarios.
Say, for instance, that author E.R.R. Fartin kills beloved serial character Guy Trademarked. Some states define personality rights such that they terminate relative to the year of the person's death. Would that be the year of publication, or the year copyright ends, or some other year?
Essentially, no one can correct you, because no one really knows what the law allows yet.
If you don't use "James Bond" in the title, or anything leading one to believe it was a licensed property, you should be relatively safe... for that matter, hosting the content on a server in Canada should be relatively safe as well.
"In 2000, following a cease and desist order from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the game was taken out of print. It was reissued in 2004 as James Ernest's Totally Renamed Spy Game."
