Registration of a Trademark

This is the third article in the trademark series. Check out the other article in the series: What is a trade-mark? and Passing off a trade-mark

Imagine you are a new designer clothing company, and you or your marketing team have created a logo for your clothing line. It is a brand-new logo that your team has invested tens of thousands of dollars into creating. It has taken months to create and has required extensive research and planning. You want to place the logo on your storefront and on your goods. However, you don’t want your competitor to steal your logo. You want to protect the inherent rights in your property. You have heard about registering your logo as a trademark. What is a registerable trademark? What’s the registration process like?

Registering your trademark is the best way to protect the intangible rights inherent in the property (the logo), so you can freely distinguish your goods from a competitor without having to worry about your competitor profiting off your hard work.

Section 2

For a trademark to be registered, it must be considered a registerable trademark under the Trademarks Act RSC 1985, c T-13.

The Trademarks Act is a federal statute created to govern and protect trademarks. The first step in understanding whether your logo is a registerable trademark is to review the definition of a trademark in the Trademarks Act. Section 2 defines a trademark as a