How to register a trademark in Canada, step by step

You picked the name, ordered the signs, and paid for the domain. Then a supplier asks whether the brand is registered and you realize you have no idea what that would involve. The answer is one online application to the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO), a government fee under $500 for the first class of goods or services, and a wait of about 11 months to a year if nothing goes wrong. The steps below follow the order you meet them. Our post on what registration gets you covers the reasons to do it. This one covers how.

Start with the Canadian Trademarks Database↗, which lists registered marks and pending applications. Search your exact name, alternate spellings, and words that sound the same, and filter by the class of goods or services you will use. A hit in a different industry matters less than a hit next door to yours, because confusion turns on how alike the marks are in appearance or sound or in the ideas suggested by them, and on how close the businesses are.

The register is one of four places to look. Unregistered marks carry rights too, so search the open web, social platforms, and local directories for anyone already trading under a similar name in your field. Check that the domain is free. Search the Ontario Business Registry↗ for corporate and business names, keeping in mind that a registered name gives you no trademark rights and a clear name search clears nothing on the trademark side. A search you run yourself catches the obvious conflicts. Judging whether a near-match is confusing takes legal training, so have a lawyer or registered trademark agent review the results before you spend money on signage.

A word mark protects the words themselves, whatever font or colour you show them in. A design mark protects a specific logo. A combined mark covers the words and the artwork as a unit, so the registration is tied to that layout. Most small businesses file the words first and add the logo later, since logos get redesigned more often than names. Since June 2019 the Trademarks Act also permits sounds, scents, tastes, textures, three-dimensional shapes, modes of packaging, the position of a sign on a product, moving images, and holograms, each with its own rules for how you represent the mark. Shapes and colours were already registrable before 2019 under the old distinguishing-guise and design rules.

The name has to be distinctive. Section 12 of the Trademarks Act↗ lets the Registrar refuse a mark that is clearly descriptive of what you sell, and section 2 defines a distinctive mark as one that actually distinguishes your goods or services from others, or is adapted to do so. Descriptions of what you sell or where you sell it are the usual casualties: "Best Roofing Toronto" describes, while an invented or unrelated word points to you and nobody else. Invented names tend to clear examination with fewer objections.

Decide who will own the mark before you file. If a corporation runs the business, the corporation should be the applicant. A mark held in the founder's name leaves the company using property it does not own, and buyers often find that gap in diligence, as our post on buying and selling a business describes. Ownership sits alongside the other setup decisions in our Ontario startup legal checklist.

Every application lists the goods or services the mark covers, grouped under the Nice Classification, the international system of 34 classes of goods and 11 of services. A bakery that sells cupcakes and runs a small cafe files in two classes, baked goods and food service. CIPO's overview of the modernized trademark regime↗ covers the Nice classes, the ten-year term, and the 2019 changes. CIPO also publishes a Goods and Services Manual↗ of pre-approved terms the examiner accepts without asking for more detail. Pick your wording from it where you can. Custom wording gives examiners a reason to object.

Scope is a real decision. List too little and a competitor can use your name for the product you left off. List everything you might someday sell and you pay for classes you do not use, invite objections, and give a challenger a target when someone later asks whether you use the mark on each item. Cover what you sell now and what your plan says you will sell within a few years.

You file through CIPO's online system, and the filing date is set once your application meets the minimum requirements. Online filers get the acknowledgement within seven business days. CIPO's trademark fee schedule↗ sets the 2026 amounts below. CIPO raises most of these fees by 1.7% on January 1, 2027; the extension and transfer fees stay the same. The fee that applies is set by the date CIPO receives your payment.

• Application, online: $491.06 for the first class and $149.04 for each additional class. From January 1, 2027: $499.41 and $151.57.
• Application by other methods: $640.10 for the first class. Filing online saves $149.04 on a single class.
• Renewal, online: $595.06 for the first class and $185.49 for each additional class. From January 1, 2027: $605.18 and $188.64.
• Extension of time: $150, for time limits fixed by the Act or the Regulations, such as the time to file a statement of opposition. Recording a transfer of ownership: $125 for each application or registration.
• No separate registration fee: Applications filed on or after June 17, 2019 are registered without one.

A two-class online application therefore costs $640.10 in 2026. Add the cost of the search and of any professional help you use.

An examiner reviews the application for distinctiveness, for conflicts with earlier marks, and for wording. CIPO's forecast, updated September 16, 2026, puts the wait to first examination at about 8.1 months for September 2026 filings. CIPO ended accelerated examination for pre-approved terms in July 2025, so every domestic application now joins the same queue. Apart from CIPO's narrow expedited-examination requests (for example where a court action is under way or counterfeits are being stopped at the border), no filing choice shortens the wait.

Small issues get sorted by phone. Anything larger arrives as an examiner's report, and you have six months to answer it. You can argue that the mark is distinctive, narrow the goods, change the wording, or file evidence of use. CIPO generally grants extensions only in exceptional circumstances, so plan to meet the deadline. Missing it leads to a notice of default, and under the Regulations you then have two months to remedy the default. Read the report with someone who knows the steps CIPO follows after filing↗. The response is where legal judgment matters most.

Once approved, the application is published in the weekly Trademarks Journal about two weeks later. From publication, anyone has two months to file a statement of opposition. Filing a statement of opposition costs the challenger $1,115.08 in 2026. If nobody opposes, the file moves on. If someone does, you have two months to file a counter statement, and the case proceeds through evidence and, in some cases, a hearing. The Step 1 search is your main protection here, since the likeliest opposer is a business already trading under a similar name.

For applications filed on or after June 17, 2019, CIPO issues the registration certificate without a declaration of use and without an extra fee. You do not have to be using the mark yet, but you must be using it or genuinely intend to use it in Canada for the goods and services you list. A filing made without that intention can be opposed or invalidated (Trademarks Act, sections 30(1) and 38(2)). Adding CIPO's own figures for a file with no objections and no opposition gives about 8 months to examination, two weeks to publication, and two months of opposition: about 11 months to a year if nothing goes wrong. Each objection round adds months to that number.

• Renewal: A registration lasts ten years. You can renew from six months before expiry to six months after it, at the renewal fees above. Put the date in a calendar the day the certificate arrives.
• Use it or risk losing it: Three years after registration, the Registrar can demand proof that you used the mark in Canada at any time in the three years before the notice, under section 45 of the Trademarks Act. If you cannot show use and have no special reason for the gap, the registration is liable to be expunged or narrowed. Keep dated invoices, packaging, and advertising for each registered item.
• Ownership changes: If you sell the business or move the brand into a new corporation, record the transfer with CIPO for $125 so the register shows the owner who will be enforcing it.

A Canadian registration protects you in Canada and nowhere else. The Madrid Protocol lets you apply for protection in several countries through a single application to the World Intellectual Property Organization. Canadian citizens, residents, and businesses with a real establishment in Canada can file through CIPO, and you need a Canadian application or registration first. CIPO charges no fee for certifying the filing; you pay WIPO in Swiss francs for the application and for each country you name. For the first five years, changes to your Canadian file, such as deleted goods or an opposition, carry over to the international registration, so a weak Canadian application weakens every country attached to it. CIPO's page on international filings under the Madrid Protocol↗ sets out the rules. Countries outside Madrid need separate filings.

You can file this yourself; CIPO's online system is open to anyone. A lawyer or registered trademark agent earns the fee at the clearance search, the reply to an examiner's report, and any opposition. We run searches, file applications, answer examiners' reports, and handle oppositions as part of our corporate practice. If you want a read on your name before you file, book a one-hour consultation.

• For businesses
• Step-by-step guide
• Cost & fees

This article is general information, not legal advice, and does not create a solicitor-client relationship. It is current as at its publication date and is not revised as the law changes. For advice on your specific situation, book a consultation or call 416-639-0887.

Written by

Caleesis Telesh

Founder & Principal Lawyer

LL.B. · B.A., York University · Member, Law Society of Ontario

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