What are the steps and costs involved to register a trademark?
Registration Process
The registration process is initiated by filing a trademark application at the Canadian Intellectual Property Office, including the application fee, a list of the goods and services associated with the trademark, and any other requirements specific to the type of trademark sought to be registered. The Trademarks Act sets out a number of requirements for trademark registration. It is important to ensure that a trademark application complies with the requirements for registration. Otherwise, the resultant trademark registration may be invalid and unenforceable, or the application may be refused.
An examiner evaluates the application by conducting searches for identical or potentially confusing trademarks, and assesses other potential obstacles to registration. If the examiner raises no objections, the application is approved for publication in the Trademarks Journal. For a two-month interval after publication, the application may be opposed by another person. Oppositions, which are relatively uncommon, may for example be based on prior use of a confusing trademark. If no opposition is raised, the trademark will be registered. A registration is valid for 10 years, after which a renewal fee must be paid in order to maintain the registration.
It typically takes 24 to 36 months to “prosecute” an application through all of the stages, assuming that there are no examiner’s objections, no oppositions are filed against the mark, and no extensions of time are requested by the applicant. Prosecution of an application typically consists of responding to any requirements or objections that may be raised by a trademarks examiner.
Cost
The initial cost of filing an application to register a trademark is about $1,475 for an application covering one class of goods or services, with additional costs for applications including more than one class. Further costs on the order of about $650 may be incurred later in the process for a straightforward application. A straightforward application means that there are no objections raised by the trademarks examiner, no oppositions are lodged by third parties, and no extensions of time (e.g. to respond to examiner objections or to meet other formal requirements) are required.
Costs relating to dealing with examiner objections are highly variable and depend upon the number and complexity of the objections. We can discuss with you in advance of filing the costs that might be incurred in your particular case, but we cannot know in advance what objections will be made to an application, and so there is always some uncertainty in this regard. Opposition proceeding are adversarial proceedings conducted before an administrative tribunal called the Trademarks Opposition Board, so costs are difficult to predict in advance.