What Can I Trademark?

Trademarks are the best way to protect words, phrases, and logos, in most countries.

Trademarks are registered on a country by country basis, except in Europe where you may register a EU Community trademark or a trademark in one or more EU countries. There is no such thing as a global trademark, but there is a way to file a single trademark application and obtain a registration in multiple countries that you select using the Madrid protocol. Canada doesn’t participate in the Madrid protocol.

In Canada, you may register a trademark to protect the following types of marks:

  • A word,
  • A phrase,
  • A logo,
  • A colour or collage of colours, and
  • Sounds,

if the mark is used to identify the source of a product or service.


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.