An Ontario pastry chef quickly learned that trademarking her business was the sweetest thing she ever did. Here is the complete story. Stephanie Pick began operating a pastry store in Toronto in 1998. She then trademarked her business name, QUEEN…
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A recent media article outlines the absolute power of trademark registration in Canada (and a really good reason why you should get one!). See here for the story. Target Corp. (the US department store) bought the rights to enter into…
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The protection that registration lends to your business is important. Let's recap what benefits you receive, only through registration: 1. Exclusive right to use the trademark across Canada rather than certain areas where you carry on business 2. The additional…
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Molson CANADIAN. It's a pretty common name in Canadian beer. And initially, it wasn't able to be registered as a trade-mark! Why not? First and foremost, a trade-mark can not be purely descriptive of the wares which are being sold. …
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What makes a good trade-mark? If you were to sneeze, would you reach for a KLEENEX? Chances are that you may not actually be reaching for a KLEENEX but in fact just a regular tissue, perhaps from another brand, like…
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Let's talk about what makes a good trade-mark. An instantly descriptive trade-mark like GREENLAWNZ (for a lawn care business) might sound appealing at first. It will catch the consumer's attention and they should easily be able to identify the wares…
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According to a press release from the General Court of the European Union dated September 20, 2011, the former Soviet Coat of Arms can not be trade-marked in the European Union. The Coat of Arms and other former Soviet symbols…
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The proper use of your trade-mark is critical to its defensibility and maintenance on the register. If it is not used properly, a third party is able to challenge it and strike it from the register (See my previous post…
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How different can a corporate logo be but still be recognized? A few months ago, an interesting graphic study by Graham Smith placed corporate logos front and centre as Graham "un-evolved" them into collections of circles and colours. Surprisingly enough,…
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http://www.fire-jumping.epic? Starting in January 2012, ICANN (the organization that administers domain names on the Internet) will accept applications for custom gTLDs (global top level domain), which will stand alongside the existing 22 gTLDs that you are familiar with, such as…
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