In Canada, registering your business name doesn’t mean your brand is protected from copycats. Or that you’re not accidentally infringing on someone else’s trademark.

This is because unless your trademark is registered in CIPO’s Trademarks Database, a business in another province can still run its business using your business name, logo, design, slogan, etc. 

(Of course, you can fight this trademark infringement in court. We call it the “tort of passing off.”)

This doesn’t mean you should rush off and apply to register your trademarks though! While it’s true for a lot of my Trademark Registration clients that trademark registration needs to be at the top of the legal will-do list, it may make more strategic (ie: dollars & sense) for you & your business to tackle other projects first.

In this video, I share my 3-part framework for when to register your trademarks in Canada.

Click below to watch the 5-minute episode ⬇⬇