Trademark your idea

Trademark your idea

A trademark is a unique mark that distinguishes your goods and services from other services which are not protected under trademark laws. Trademarks in Canada are registrable under the auspices of the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) and trademarks in the U.S. are registrable under the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Depending on what stage you’re currently in, in registering your trademark, whether it is in Canada or the United States, you’ll want to give yourself 6-12 months from start to finish to get your product or service trademarked.

If you’re registering your product or service in the U.S., you’ll want to make sure that your goods or services meet minimum requirements under the USPTO.

While this list is not exhaustive, some of the basic requirements for an application are listed below:

• Your trademark must be federally registrable, meaning that you must be able to register it under federal law, although trademarks are governed by federal, state and common law
• You must be able to correctly identify what good or service you are trademarking
• You must be able to identify the proper filing basis for your application. A filing basis is the category that your good or service falls under. For more information get in touch with our trade-mark agents

If you’re registering your product or service in Canada, you’ll want to complete the same process as above, visitng the CIPO website and researching the existing database of trade-marks.

For information on registering your idea in Canada and the United States, get in touch with us here.