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From clearance search through to registration, opposition, renewal, and enforcement, a Canadian trademark protects your brand identity nationwide once it's registered with the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO). Our team at Brealant guides you through every stage of the trademark lifecycle, so your brand stays protected from your first filing onward.
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Legal Definition of a Trademark in Canada
Under the Trademarks Act, a trademark is a word, design, sound, or combination of these used to distinguish your goods or services from those of others in the Canadian marketplace.
Purpose and Function of Trademarks in Canada
Registering with CIPO grants you the exclusive right to use your mark across Canada for the goods and services you register, giving you a clear legal basis to stop confusingly similar marks from entering the market.
Protecting Your Trademark Long-Term
Registration is only the starting point — ongoing protection depends on correct filing, monitoring the register for conflicts, timely renewal, and enforcement when infringement occurs, all of which Brealant supports.
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Contact
Reach out to Brealant, your trusted trademark agent in Canada, to discuss the brand you want to protect.
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Search
We run a clearance search of the CIPO Trademarks Database and related sources to assess your mark's registrability.
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Quote
Receive a service quote tailored to your filing needs, including classes and jurisdictions.
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Pay
Proceed with secure payment for the selected services.
File
Brealant prepares and submits your application to CIPO, or via the Madrid Protocol if it forms part of a wider filing strategy.
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Wait
CIPO reviews your application; current service standards put the wait for a first examiner's report at around nine months from filing.
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Response
Receive CIPO's decision — approval and publication, or an examiner's report that Brealant can help you respond to.
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Check your trademark is available in Canada before you file. Brealant runs thorough CIPO searches with clear risk advice and fixed fees.
Register your trademark in Canada with Brealant. Expert CIPO filing, classification and prosecution at fixed fees. Get a free quote.
Got a CIPO office action? Brealant drafts persuasive responses to objections and refusals so your trademark in Canada keeps moving.
File or defend a trademark opposition in Canada. Brealant prepares strategic CIPO opposition filings, evidence and arguments to protect you.
Renew your trademark in Canada on time. Brealant tracks CIPO deadlines, grace periods and fees so your protection never lapses.
Stop trademark infringement in Canada fast. Brealant drafts firm, legally grounded cease and desist letters and manages the response.
Remove infringing listings in Canada quickly. Brealant files trademark takedown notices with online marketplaces, platforms and websites.
Cancel or invalidate a conflicting trademark in Canada. Brealant builds non-use and invalidity cases before CIPO to protect your rights.
In Canada, trademarks are examined and registered by CIPO under the Trademarks Act, using the Nice Classification system to sort goods and services into 45 classes. Since Canada joined the Madrid Protocol in June 2019, applicants no longer need to declare prior use or proposed use to file — a single, simplified application type applies to nearly every filing, whether you're a Canadian business or a foreign brand entering the market.
A registered Canadian trademark gives you nationwide exclusive rights, a public record of ownership, and a strong legal foundation for enforcement against copycats and counterfeiters. Brealant supports the full lifecycle of that protection — from the initial search and filing, through examination and any opposition, to renewal and enforcement — so your brand stays secure as your business grows.
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A registered trademark in Canada can cover a wide range of brand elements, including:
Words & Names: Brand names, product names, and taglines used to identify your goods or services.
Logos & Designs: Distinctive graphical marks, stylised lettering, and combined word-and-design marks.
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Slogans & Taglines: Distinctive phrases closely associated with your brand in the Canadian market.
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Non-Traditional Marks: Sounds, colours per se, holograms, moving images, and other non-traditional signs, provided they're distinctive and clearly represented.
Brealant helps you identify every registrable element of your brand, so nothing valuable is left unprotected.
Certain marks cannot be registered under the Trademarks Act, including:
Clearly Descriptive Marks: Marks that merely describe the character, quality, or place of origin of the goods or services (e.g., 'Fresh' for produce).
Confusingly Similar Marks: Marks likely to be confused with an existing registered or pending mark for related goods or services.
Prohibited & Official Marks: Marks incorporating national symbols, Royal Arms, the RCMP badge, Red Cross emblems, or Olympic and Paralympic marks, among other protected symbols under Section 9.
Generic Terms: Words that are the common name for the goods or services themselves, rather than a distinguishing brand element.
Marks Lacking Distinctiveness: Marks — including many surnames or overly simple designs — that don't clearly distinguish your goods or services from those of others.
CIPO's examiners assess every application against these grounds, which is why a professional filing strategy matters from the outset.
The Canadian registration process generally follows these stages:
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Application submission
Filing & Formalities: CIPO reviews your application for completeness and assigns a filing date, usually acknowledged within about a week for online filings.
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Examination
Examination: Current service standards put the wait for a first examiner's report at around nine months; if objections are raised, applicants have six months to respond.
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Acceptance and publication
Publication & Opposition: Approved applications are advertised in the Trademarks Journal, opening a two-month opposition window (extendable in limited circumstances) for third parties to challenge the mark.
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Registration
Registration: If unopposed, CIPO issues the certificate of registration automatically — no separate registration fee applies for applications filed under the current system.
A straightforward, unopposed application using pre-approved goods and services descriptions can reach registration in around 12 months from filing; applications that draw an examiner's report or a contested opposition often take 18 months or longer.
Trademark costs in Canada scale with the number of Nice classes your application covers:
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Official CIPO Fees: Online filing currently runs approximately $491 CAD for the first class and $149 CAD for each additional class, with CIPO fees adjusted annually.
Professional Fees: Brealant's fee covers your clearance search, application preparation, filing, and prosecution support, quoted upfront based on the number of classes and complexity of your mark.
We provide a clear, itemised quote before any work begins, so there are no surprises as your application moves through CIPO.
Registration is the foundation, not the finish line. Brealant supports the full lifecycle of your Canadian trademark — responding to examiner's reports, defending or filing oppositions, managing your 10-year renewal cycle, and taking enforcement action through cease-and-desist letters, marketplace takedown notices, or cancellation proceedings — so your brand stays protected for as long as you need it.
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Filing simply starts the process with CIPO; registration is only granted once your application clears examination and, if published, survives the two-month opposition window without a successful challenge.
No. Since 2019, CIPO no longer requires a declaration of use or proposed use to file, though someone with earlier use of a confusingly similar mark may still have grounds to challenge your application.
A straightforward, unopposed application typically reaches registration in around 12 months, though current examination wait times and any objections or opposition can extend this to 18 months or more.
Official CIPO filing fees currently start at roughly $491 CAD for the first class online, plus around $149 CAD per additional class, on top of Brealant's professional fees for search, filing, and prosecution support.
Clearly descriptive terms, generic words, marks confusingly similar to existing ones, and prohibited or official marks — such as national symbols or the Red Cross emblem — cannot be registered.
Discover more insights and stay informed about the latest in intellectual property with Brealant's blog. From expert advice on trademark registration and patent protection to strategies for safeguarding your brand in a competitive market, our resources are here to empower your business. .
Explore our blog to learn how effective IP management can strengthen your brand's position and protect your innovations
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Get expert guidance on your trademark, patent, copyright or design filing. Book a free 15-minute call with an IP specialist — no obligation.
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