There are many advantages to registering a trade-mark for your business. The two most important reasons are:
- It provides legal protections of your business, product or service across Canada under the provisions of the Trade-marks Act; and
- It provides a tangible asset in the form of intellectual property, which may increase the value of a business upon a sale or when seeking funding.
Trade-marks are designed to identify the source of the goods or services that are protected under the mark. Customers depend on the quality of the source when making decisions to support one business or another. A trade-mark ensures that consumers know the goods or services belong to the owner rather than a knock-off.
It is important to commence the application process as early as possible as there as the complete process from application to registration can take approximately three years. An Application is made to the Canadian Intellectual Property Office for a formal registration of a trade-mark. A trade-mark can me more than a name. In fact, logos, designs and even sounds are legally allowed to have trade-mark protections in Canada.
Registrations for trade-marks last for ten years and are renewable for a small fee.
At Northern Law LLP, we can offer full service in trade-mark law from the application to registration process and provide litigation services for infringement issues or other trade-mark disputes. We can also provide a preliminary clearance search to assist you in determining if there are any immediate restrictions to registering your proposed trade-mark prior to undertaking a expensive marketing campaign. It is much better to know whether there will be issues before a substantial investment is made by you or your business.
If you have a product or service that you or your company is looking to protect, Northern Law LLP would be pleased to assist. Please call or email us to set up an appointment.