Protecting Your Brand: Trademarking in Canada

Updated: Aug 12, 2026

As a business owner, you might wonder about trademarking, when to register, and how to get started. 

Good news, you’ve landed in the right place! 

In January 2023, The Brand Brew began the journey of trademarking our name. In short, a trademark is a sign or combination of signs used to distinguish your goods or services from those of others. It can include a word, name, logo, slogan, design, or other distinctive brand element. As of June 2024, The Brand Brew ® is a registered trademark.

In a conversation with Cynthia Mason, Canadian trademark lawyer at Mason PC® and Markably*, we learned that the best time to start a trademark registration is after you have determined that the trademark is available to use but before you launch your brand products and services to the market.

A Business Registration is NOT Trademarking

Many business owners have the misconception that simply deciding on a brand name (and using it) and registering your business protects you in the event of a name dispute, yet this is simply not the case.

Mason advises that business name registration acts more like a directory listing, where the public can learn the names of the individuals behind the business. She adds that it doesn’t actually grant you rights over that name. Businesses can potentially have rights arising from use/common law even without federal registration; registration significantly strengthens and formalizes those rights.

Registering a business name doesn't provide the same protection as registering a trademark. A Canadian trademark registration gives you important statutory rights and stronger tools for protecting the mark across Canada.

The trademark registration process occurs with the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO), a Federal Government agency.

Trademark registration isn't an overnight process, and timelines can vary depending on the application, examination, objections, opposition, and other factors. That's another reason to start the process early.

5 Benefits of Trademarking Your Brand

While researching the benefits, we compiled a list of the top 5 reasons why you should not delay trademarking and make it a part of your brand launch strategy:

1. Strengthen Your Legal Protection: A registered trademark gives you exclusive rights to use the mark across Canada in association with the goods and services covered by your registration. It can also strengthen your ability to act when another party uses a confusingly similar mark.
   

2. Build a Valuable Brand Asset: A registered trademark becomes an intangible business asset that may be licensed, franchised, transferred, sold, or otherwise form part of the value associated with your brand. A trademark can also attract customers, investors and partners, who recognize and trust your brand.
   

3. Support Your Brand’s Expansion: A registered trademark can help you expand your business to new territories, as it can serve as a basis for registering your name, logo and/or slogan in other regions. It gives you exclusive rights to use the trademark across Canada for ten years (and you can renew that indefinitely). A Canadian registration may also form part of a broader international trademark strategy if you plan to seek protection in other countries.
   

4. Give You Stronger Tools if a Dispute Arises: Registering your trademark can put you in a stronger position to protect your brand and enforce your rights if another party adopts a confusingly similar mark. A trademark can also help you enforce your rights and seek remedies in case of such infringements.
   

5. Protect the Brand Equity You're Building: The more time, money, and reputation you invest in your name and identity, the more disruptive a forced change can become. Addressing trademark protection early can help safeguard the brand equity you're working to build.

How To Get Started With Trademarking

The trademark register is the essential place to search for the availability of a name because it includes both registered and proposed trademarks that businesses have claimed for their future use. However, you can spend a lot of time reviewing trademark search results if you don’t approach it with a good strategy. 

Mason recommends starting your search by using the exact words of your trademark in the “TM Lookup” field through the Canadian Trademark Database. 

If many results are returned, you can narrow them down by including types of goods and services. You can add another search criterion using the Nice International Classification system, which is part of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). This will enable you to quickly identify trademarks that cover goods and services similar to yours. The system divides all goods and services into 45 classes, and you need to specify which ones you want to register your trademark for. 

For example, if you have a coffee shop, you might want to register your trademark for class 30 (coffee, tea, cocoa, etc.) and class 43 (services for providing food and drink, etc.), or if you own a wellness centre, you might want to register your trademark for class 44 (health spa services) and class 41 (sports and fitness training services).

Now, it is time to file an application to register your trademark. This process can be complex and time-consuming, as you must comply with various legal requirements and procedures.

That's why we recommend enlisting the help of a professional service such as Markably®*

Markably ® is an online platform that offers affordable and easy-to-use trademark registration services for small businesses and entrepreneurs. 

You may see the ™ symbol used with an unregistered trademark to indicate that the owner is claiming it as a trademark. The ® symbol, on the other hand, should be reserved for marks that are actually registered and used in connection with the goods or services covered by that registration.

Protect the Brand You're Building

A strong brand takes time to build, which makes protecting it worth considering early. Researching trademark availability before committing to a name or identity can help uncover potential conflicts before you've invested heavily in bringing the brand to market.

Trademark registration is a legal process, but the thinking starts much earlier. Through Brand Development, The Brand Brew® helps businesses build distinctive brands from a clear strategic foundation, including naming and identity considerations that can set the stage for trademark clearance and registration with the appropriate legal professional.

Book a call and let's brew a brand worth building—and protecting.

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*This is not a paid promotion. The opinions expressed and the recommendations made in this article are solely based on The Brand Brew ®'s experiences. We are in no way affiliated with Mason PC ® or Markably ®.