Composite Trademarks

Composite Trademarks are marks made up of multiple elements that could be separated.

Why Register Composite Trademarks?

  • Registration of a composite mark, that incorporates an unregistrable word component, can provide useful enforcement rights.
  • A composite trademark conveys the trademark impression to customers
  • The mark is always used in a stylised get-up
  • The word portion of the mark is unregistrable.

Examples of Composite Trademarks

CHOOSE-A-SIZE / MESURE-AU-CHOIX TMA782,175 cited in by Kruger Products L.P. in its opposition to application No. 1,530,217 for the trade-mark FORMAT AU CHOIX in the name of Cascades Canada ULC, 2014 TMOB 237

 

CII Honeywell Bull, case: Registrar of Trade-marks v Compagnie Internationale pour l’Informatique CII Honeywell Bull (1985), 4 CPR (3d) 523 (FCA)

By David Michaels

David Michaels, J.D., B.Eng., CHRM is a trained attorney who holds certificates in Canadian Trademark Law (2012) and Canadian Patent Law (1996) from McGill University. He has worked in the area of trademark law in Canada since 1995 and in the USA since 1993. David is a legal blogger, brand consultant, an eCommerce entrepreneur, and an aeronautical engineer. http://ca.linkedin.com/in/davidtmichaels/ Warning & Disclaimer: The pages, articles and comments on trademarkpro.ca do not constitute legal advice, nor do they create any attorney-client relationship. The articles published express the author's notes of the current state of trademark law and should not be attributed as opinions of the author, his employer, clients or the sponsors of trademarkpro.ca. The author does not warrant that these notes are up-to-date. Trademark law is constantly changing and it varies between jurisdictions and even within jurisdictions. This website should not be relied upon.