Trademarks more valuable now!

The Internet has caused trade-names and trademarks to become more valuable. The number of registered trademarks have increased substantially, causing trademark conflicts to become a common occurrence. You must be diligent and protect your trade-names and trademarks by registering them as soon as possible before someone else registers a conflicting trade-name or trademark. 

When you register a trademark, it is important that you carefully review the products and services for which you are claiming trademark protection. If the trademark application is not completed properly, you risk establishing a weak trademark instead of a strong one. It is more expensive to fix an application than to do it right in the first place. 

Where to Trademark

Choosing where to trademark has recently become a more complex process. The Internet allows any business to be conducted throughout the world. This often requires you to consider obtaining trademarks in many countries. If you fail to do so, you risk being sued for trademark infringement if you sell your goods or services in other countries. Defending lawsuits in foreign countries is very expensive. We can help you obtain Canadian, US and international trademarks.

The choice of trademark is important. 

A strong trademark will create a more valuable brand and help lower the risk of being sued for trademark infringement. We believe that our experience as both business start-up lawyers and trademark lawyers provides us with a competitive advantage over other trademark lawyers and trademark agents. We invite you to take advantage of our skills which we have developed over the last 16 years in helping thousands of business start-ups build better brands.

Canadian Trademark Application $699 + search and filing fees

For Canadian trademark services, we offer a trademark search, our opinion as to trademarkability, all preparation and the filing of a Canadian trademark application. The price includes taxes. The filing fee is $250.00 (if done online; $300 if paper-filed) and the NUANS search costs $25.00. For the Canadian trademark process, it generally takes about 18 months for your trademark application to be processed from start to finish. Marks that are more distinctive often go through faster.

Once the Canadian trademark application is approved, the second step in the process to register the trademark involves a similar amount of work and a $200 filing fee. We charge $250 plus taxes and the registration fee for the registration process. Sometimes the Canadian trademarks are opposed by the trademarks office or other agencies. If you wish to proceed with the application we would charge our usual hourly rates for that service. Fees for this service are in Canadian dollars.

Canada is not a signatory of the Madrid Treaty but we expect it to sign on within the next five years. If you wish to take advantage of the Madrid Treaty to obtain a trademark in up to 78 countries we suggest that you first obtain the Canadian trademark and conduct US trademark searches at the same time, then apply for the US trademark under the Madrid Treaty within about 18 months so that you can take advantage of a trademark convention which allows you to claim a priority date for your trademark based on the date of the application for the Canadian trademark. It is better to apply for a US trademark sooner to better deter competing US trademark applicants.

You should also consider obtaining a EU trademark immediately, rather than to wait until you qualify to apply under the Madrid Treaty, to better deter competing EU trademark applicants.


For a free consultation about Canadian or US Trademarks call Donald Moir at 604-272-6940.

We can help you obtain a US trademark. Contact us today!