When you come to meet with us for the first time, you should bring samples of your company's brochures, letterhead, advertisements (including web site advertising), business cards, labels, hang tags, packaging and photographs of signage showing how you use your trade-mark.

If your trade-mark is not in use yet, tell us how you intend to use the mark and we can advise you accordingly.

By allowing us to review your packaging, printing and advertising materials, we can advise you how to:

• display your trade-mark correctly; and
• give proper notice of ownership, manufacture, distribution and licensing.

Remember... failure to correctly display the trade-mark and give the proper notices can jeopardize your rights and invalidate your registration.

A search will determine whether your proposed trade-mark is available and registrable.

Our trade-mark searches help to determine whether:

• your mark is commonly used by others in your field;
• your trade-mark is registrable (ie. whether your mark is composed in whole or in part of descriptive words);
• the same or similar mark has been applied for or registered by another party; and
• the same or similar name is being used as a part of a pre-existing corporate or business name.

By conducting an availability search prior to filing your application, you can potentially avoid costly and time consuming opposition proceedings and legal actions.

We offer the following types of searches to assist you in determining whether your trade-mark is available and registrable, prior to filing:

• Identical "Direct Hit" Searches;
• Full Trade-mark Searches;
• Company and Business Name Searches; and
• Common Law Searches (Telephone and Trade Directories).

We analyze the data revealed by the search and provide you with a written opinion on availability.

• Prepare and file a trade-mark application with the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO). Once the application is filed, it takes approximately 18 to 24 months to obtain registration. The application must first be examined for availability and confusion with other marks.
• Assuming that all is well, the mark will be approved for advertisement in the Canadian Trade-marks Journal. The mark is published in the Canadian Trade-Marks Journal for the purpose of opposition. This allows another party the opportunity to oppose your application if they believe that their rights will be affected by the grant of your registration. Another party has two months to initiate an opposition once the mark has been advertised.
• If there is no opposition, the mark is allowed for registration. If your company filed an application based on "proposed use" in Canada, you will be required to file a Declaration of Use confirming that you have commenced use of the mark in Canada and submit the government registration fee. If your company filed an application based on "actual use" in Canada, you will be required to submit the government registration fee only. Once the final documents have been filed, it takes the Office approximately one to two months to issue a Certificate of Registration.

The duration of a Canadian registration is 15 years from the date of registration. There are no annual government fees required to maintain your registration. However, the trade-mark is subject to renewal 15 years following the date of registration. The payment of a government fee is required upon renewal.

Once the trade-mark is registered, you still must monitor it. We can assist you with this by initiating a watch service for your trade-mark. A watch service will notify us of any potentially confusing trade-marks applied for in the particular country in a similar field by another party.

If a conflicting trade-mark is located and you believe that your rights will be affected, we can commence opposition proceedings against the mark to prevent them from obtaining registration.