Checkmarks

About Us

Checkmarks is a service provided by a law firm. As intellectual property lawyers (and a trademark agent), we know that trademarks can be key to the success of a business. For many businesses, their only competitive advantage is their goodwill and their branding. Trademarks can be relatively simple, or be incredibly complex. It is not necessary for you hire an expensive firm to handle a simple trademark application. It also isn’t always a good idea to do you own trademark application if your application is complex. If you’ve never done a trademark application, it may be hard to know if yours is simple or complex. So, we offer a “Do It Yourself+” option, and a “Full-Service” option. This way, you only pay for what you need.

Trademarks + IP

Your most important assets – your mark, logo, and slogan help identify your products or services.They create loyalty by differentiating you from others.

Business Law

Strategic advice + legal insights. Business set-up. Contracts, deals, transactionsWhether you’re just starting out or an established business, we’re on your team.

Tech + Software

Licensing agreements, SaaS, Ownership of IP, Growth. We have high level focus on what’s unique about your tech company.

F.A.Q

What is a trademark?

A trademark is like a fingerprint for businesses. It is something that distinguishes your goods or services from others.
Trademarks include brands, names, slogans, logos, colours, sounds, textures, the way something is packaged, the layout of a store, etc

A trade name is the name of your business, which is sometimes the tradename is the trademark

Generally, simply making and using a trademark gives you a trademark (called a “common law trademark”). This is free but relates to real goodwill enjoyed by the trademark and so it can be hard to enforce across Canada. If you only have goodwill in Vancouver, it will very hard to enforce your common law trademark rights in Halifax. Registering a trademark with the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) and there are several advantages to doing so:

(a) Registration of your trademark will give you Canada-wide rights to the exclusive use of that mark in your industry regardless of whether your trademark enjoys goodwill or reputation in any particular area of Canada;

(b) Registration allows you to take easier steps to prevent others from using an identical or confusingly similar trademark in relation to a similar business;

(c) CIPO will screen future trademark registration applications thereby offering your registered trademark some additional protection;

(d) Trademark registration will deter others from adopting a trademark similar to yours; and

(e) Trademark registration may prevent others from registering a trademark similar to yours, and then taking action against you for damages or to prevent you from using your established trademark.

The procedure for registration of a trademark in Canada takes approximately 12-30 months depending on many variables including whether the CIPOtrademark examiner raises any objections to the application or whether it is opposed by other trademark owners.
This will be a slow-moving process. If you plan to wait to "start" the business until the trademark is registered - please speak with a Checkmarks lawyer to discuss.

Search + Report. Do a detailed search of your trademark - how likely is the application to succeed.
Draft + File.Draft and file an application for registration. This includes attaching the trademark to specific goods and services.
Deal with Examiner. A CIPO examiner will look at the application for formal, technical, or legal objections. If none, then we move to the next step. If there is an objection, then that will need to be replied to or otherwise dealt with to try to overcome their objections.
Advertise. Once past the Examiner, the application is publicly advertised for 2 months. During this period any 3rd party can oppose your application. This is like mini-ligation. If this happens, it must be resolved before proceeding.
Done. You'll get a registered trademark.

You can do it yourself! Use our DIY+ option. However, the first time one tries something new isn’t always my best performance. If you have the risk tolerance to try your first trademark application on your own, then feel free! If you need a little extra help from time-to-time, we offer that sort of help too.

15 years, but you can renew it!

What can’t you trademark is a better question. You can pretty much trademark any element of how your brand or your business is known: names, logos, smells, layout of a store colours, the location of a tag, the mode of packaging, a texture, a sound, etc.

® means the trademark is registered; ™ means is a common law (or unregistered) trademark. Don’t use ® unless your trademark is actually fully registered.

A trademark is used in association with specific goods or services. Every conceivable good and service is classified into 45 general classes of goods and services (called Nice Classes). These are called NICE classes (named after the French city).
For example, NICE class 8 is "hand tools and implements, hand-operated; cutlery; side arms, except firearms; razors".
Every TM application has one NICE class included. Each additional NICE class attracts an extra $100 government fee.
For example: Class 8 is hand tools and implementations.
You can use as many NICE classes as you wish and our software program takes out the guess work on which ones will be approved (or not).

Pricing

DIY+

$690.00

  • Application drafted and filed by I.P. Lawyer or Trademark Agent
  • Trademark Certificate PDF (Physical Certofocate, $10.00)
Full Service

$1,500.00

  • Comprehensive trademark search and opinion.
  • Intellectual Property Legal Consult
  • Responses to office actions (CIPO Office Objections)
  • Defend Trademark in 3rd party opposition proceedings
We are here to help you. Get in touch!