Trademark registration in Canada: what it actually gets you
Caleesis TeleshFounder & Principal Lawyer
Most business owners assume the brand is protected because the business name is registered, the corporation exists, and the domain is paid for. None of those gives you meaningful rights in the name itself. The corporate name is protected only against confusingly similar corporate names, and a business-name registration gives no exclusive right at all. Trademark rights in Canada come from actual use in the market or from registration under the Trademarks Act, and the difference between the two decides how a brand fight ends.
What a trademark is, and what it is not
A trademark is whatever distinguishes your goods and services from everyone else's: a word, a logo, a slogan, a shape, even a sound or a colour in the right circumstances. It is a different thing from your corporate name, your registered business name, and your domain. Each of those can exist without giving you any right to stop a competitor from trading under something confusingly similar. A corporate name is protected only against confusingly similar corporate names, and registering a business name is a public filing that gives no exclusive right; the Government of Canada's guidance on choosing a business name says a registered trade name does not give exclusive rights to the name at the federal level.
Unregistered rights exist, within limits
Use a mark long enough and you build common law rights, enforceable through the tort of passing off. But those rights only cover the geographic area where you can prove reputation, and proving it is the hard part: passing off requires you to establish goodwill, misrepresentation, and damage, with evidence, in every case. A Scarborough bakery with ten years of local goodwill may stop a copycat across the street and be powerless against the same name in Ottawa. Common law protection is real, local, and costly to assert.
What registration changes
- National scope: Registration gives you the exclusive right to use the mark across Canada for the registered goods and services, including markets you have not entered yet. Your rights stop depending on where your reputation reaches.
- You start ahead in a lawsuit: Registration is prima facie evidence of your exclusive right to the mark. Instead of building goodwill evidence city by city, you begin from the certificate. Expect the other side to attack the registration itself, on grounds such as invalidity or non-use.
- The Register works for you: Examiners at the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) cite existing registrations against new confusing applications, and businesses that search the Register before adopting a name will find yours.
- It is an asset: A registered mark can be sold, licensed, used as security, and sits at the core of any franchise system. Buyers and investors doing diligence expect to see it. An unregistered brand is harder to sell or license.
- At the border: A registered mark lets you file a Request for Assistance asking the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) to temporarily detain suspected counterfeit goods. You then have to follow up with court proceedings.
- Domain names: Under the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy, the Canadian Presence Requirement is waived for the owner of a registered Canadian trademark. Unregistered marks used in Canada can also qualify.
Canada rewards the first to file
Since June 17, 2019, Canada has run on a first-to-file model. The amendments to the Trademarks Act that took effect that day removed the old filing bases (use, proposed use, and registration abroad). You can apply for a mark you have not launched yet, provided you are 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. You do not file a declaration of use before the mark registers. Priority goes to whoever files first, with limited exceptions for someone who was already using a confusingly similar mark and can oppose or challenge your application. The practical result: if a competitor files for your name while you are still printing menus, their filing date gives them priority over you, unless you can show earlier use and act quickly.
The process, step by step
Start with a real search: not just the exact name, but confusingly similar marks in the Canadian trademarks database, plus business registries and the market generally. The search is where brand problems usually surface, and finding them before you file is worth the fee on its own. Our step-by-step companion, how to register a trademark in Canada, walks through the search, the wording of your goods and services, and the filing itself.
The application goes to CIPO. Since 2019 you group your goods and services by class under the Nice Classification, the international system of 45 classes: classes 1 to 34 cover goods and 35 to 45 cover services. A bakery that sells bread (class 30) and runs a cafe (class 43) files in two classes. The wording inside each class matters as much as the class number, because it sets the outer edge of what your registration protects.
Cost and timing in 2026
CIPO's trademark fees page lists $491.06 for the first class of an online application and $149.04 for each additional class, so a two-class filing costs $640.10 in government fees, which are not refunded if the application fails. CIPO raises most of its fees by 1.7% on January 1, 2027, while the extension and transfer fees stay the same, and its forecast for September 2026 filings is about 8.1 months to first examination and about 11 months to a year to registration if nothing goes wrong. For the full cost and timeline, including renewal fees and what an objection or opposition adds, see our step-by-step guide.
CIPO ended accelerated examination for pre-approved terms in July 2025. 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, so check the forecast on the day you file.
Registration lasts ten years and renews for further ten-year terms. Keep using the mark or you risk losing it: after the third anniversary of registration, anyone can ask the Registrar to demand proof of use, and a registration with no use is liable to be expunged or narrowed. A registration can also be challenged if the mark is no longer distinctive when the challenge is brought, was not registrable, was abandoned, or was filed in bad faith.
What a registration does not cover
A registration protects the mark for the goods and services listed in it, in the form you filed. A word mark does not automatically cover your logo, and a filing in class 30 does not stop someone from using a similar name for software or legal services. Lists that are too narrow leave gaps a competitor can walk through, and lists that name products you never plan to sell invite a challenge later. Decide which versions of the brand you will actually use, then match the filing to them. Owners who file the name alone and redesign the logo two years on often discover the redesign has no registration behind it.
When to do this
The best time is before the brand is worth anything. Filing early is cheaper because the search can still change your name choice, and under first-to-file your date starts the clock on your priority. A business that builds five years of goodwill into a name, then finds someone else registered it, may face a rebrand with the signage, packaging, domain, and customer recognition all sunk. Franchising or licensing plans make registration strongly advisable: franchisees and buyers will ask whether the marks are registered, and a franchisor has to disclose it. And if you sell into the United States or overseas, file there too; Canadian registration stops at the border, though Canada joined the Madrid system in 2019, which lets a Canadian filing anchor applications in other member countries. Brand timing is one of several early decisions we see go wrong, and our post on legal mistakes new Ontario businesses make covers the rest.
Most small businesses need one well-chosen registration, filed early. We run the search, assess the risks, and handle the filing as part of our corporate law practice. If you want to talk through your brand before you file, book a 30-minute consultation.
- For businesses
- Cost & fees
- Step-by-step guide
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.
LL.B.B.A., York UniversityMember, Law Society of Ontario
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