Trademark Lawyer in Toronto, Trademark Registration Services
What is a trademark?
A trademark helps people find your products and services. It could be your business name, product or service name, logo, slogan, or even music. A trademark is often the most valuable thing you own – a symbol of your good reputation and the high quality of your products and services.
A trademark protects you and give you certain rights. These rights stop competitors from using similar names to confuse people and profit off your reputation. These rights also keep competitors from trying to stop your use of your trademark.
Trademarks are important to your long-term success and need to be protected. The way to protect a trademark is to register the trademark in Canada with the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO), with the help of a registered trademark agent. We are registered with CPATA – College of Patent Agents and Trademark Agents – and can help you register your trademarks.
We make sure your trademarks protect your business
We know how much time, effort, and sacrifice goes into a business. We want you to succeed, and we treat your situation like we would our own. To us, this means taking the time to find out exactly what you do, as well as your future plans, so that your trademarks will properly protect you.
In 2007, we decided that doing the best job possible for our clients meant focusing entirely on trademark law. Since that time, whether in Canada or outside the country, cost-conscious small business or multi-million dollar company, our goal has been to protect the long-term future of our clients with high quality, cost-effective trademark services.
We make sure your trademarks properly describe and protect your business long-term, and that your application has the best chance of being accepted by the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO). Unlike trademark services that simply collect information from you and leave you with the responsibility and problems of a bad trademark application, we take the time to find out about your business and put together the best application possible. Because even when applications are prepared properly, our years of experience are often needed to overcome the Trademarks Office’s concerns and get trademarks registered. Contact us at 647-670-0010 and we’ll explain the application process with no obligation and at no cost to you. And, if you decide that you want our help, we’ll do our very best in preparing your trademark application and seeing it through each step to registration.
Why register your trademark?
There are many good reasons to protect your business through trademark registration. For example:
- Registration protects your trademark across Canada for ten years, and can be renewed.
- Registration is evidence that you own the trademark.
- Registration makes it easier to stop someone from using your trademark or something similar.
- Registered trademarks are valuable and can be sold or licensed.
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Address:
Toronto Trademark Lawyer.ca
108 Corporate Drive, Suite 23
Toronto, Ontario M1H 2S3 Canada
OUR TRADEMARK SERVICES
Trademark Strategy
We review your business with you and talk to you about ways your trademarks can help protect the future of your business.
Trademark Screening
We check if your trademarks can be registered, and if competitors are using anything similar.
Trademark Registration
We help register your trademark with the government, guiding your application through each step.
Trademark Enforcement
We help you stop competitors who are using your trademarks or anything similar and are interfering with your business.
Trademark Infringement
We help you respond to claims that you’re interfering with competitors’ trademarks, and help you avoid further issues.
Trademark Assignment
We help you transfer ownership of trademarks and update the government’s database.
“We are a U.S. business who needed a resource in Canada to assist with our expired trademark. We feel fortunate to have found Roland on the internet and asked if we could write this testimonial. It can be very daunting to have a problem with no way to solve it and have to rely on a stranger in another country. From the very first communication, we knew we had found the right resource. Roland’s communications are very clear, so we understood the process and expectations. He periodically updated us on status/progress, which allowed us to focus on our business with the confidence that our problem was being worked on. We highly recommend Roland and appreciate his efforts on our behalf.”
Marti Fellabaum
Operations Manager
LawnGrips LLC
ROLAND BATTISTINI, Hon BA, LLB
A graduate of the University of Toronto and Osgoode Hall Law School, Roland has been a lawyer in Ontario since 2001 and a registered Canadian trademark agent since 2007. His clients include Canadian and international businesses of all sizes, and from a wide range of industries. A member of SOCAN (The Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada), he is uniquely qualified to help with the registration of sound marks.
Outside of his law practice, Roland is a director of a technology company that has helped businesses with marketing, web development, SEO, and lead generation since 2001. He is active as a volunteer, sitting on the boards of multiple non-profit organizations, and is outspoken on the issue of corruption in politics.
How does the trademark registration system work in Canada? Recent changes to Canada’s trademark system Registering trademarks outside Canada under the Madrid Protocol Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) WebsiteTrademark Information
Trademark registrations fall under the Canadian Trademarks Act and Trademarks Regulations.
The Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO), which is part of Canada’s Ministry of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, handles the administration of intellectual property in Canada. Within CIPO, the Trademarks and Industrial Design Branch oversees the handling of trademark registrations in Canada. CIPO’s headquarters is located in Gatineau, Quebec, across the river from Ottawa. CIPO also has a number of other designated locations where documents may be filed.
Canada is one of the 177 countries who have signed the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, which ensures national treatment for the applicants and owners of industrial property, and priority rights for applicants from member countries.
As a member of the World Trade Organization, Canada’s various obligations include the Agreement on Trade-related Aspects of International Property Rights, which includes protection for geographical indications.
In 2019, Canada’s trademark legislation was amended, allowing Canada to accede to the Singapore Treaty on the Law of Trademarks, the Protocol Relating to the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks (including the Common Regulations under the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks and the Protocol Relating to that Agreement) and the Nice Agreement concerning the International Classification of Goods and Services for the Purposes of the Registration of Marks.
Specific changes included:
• expanding the definition of “trademark” to include sounds, scents, tastes, colours, holograms, moving images, and textures
• the need to group goods and services according to Nice Classification
• making it possible, through the Madrid Protocol, to extend Canadian trademark protection to foreign jurisdictions
• changes to registration and renewal periods.
In 2019, it became possible to file one application for the international registration of a trademark covering multiple countries. The process is overseen by the International Bureau of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). The application is filed through CIPO. The International Bureau then examines the application for form and issues an International Registration. At that point, each country included in the application is notified, and begins the process of examining the trademark to see if can be registered locally. Where a country determines that the trademark can be registered, it receives the same protection as locally-registered trademarks.
CIPO’s website is found at ic.gc.ca. The trademarks section of the site includes general information about trademarks in Canada (Trademarks Guide), currently advertised trademark applications (Trademarks Journal), links to the Canadian Trademarks Act and Trademarks Regulations. The website also gives individuals the ability to search for trademark registrations and applications (Trademarks Database), file or amend an application, pay registration fees, or search for acceptable goods and services for the purpose of preparing an application (Goods and Services Manual).