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Intellectual Property and Trademarks in Canada
Intellectual Property and Trademarks in Canada
Intellectual Property – general
As our business grows and starts accumulating physical (tangible) assets – business premises, equipment, inventory, vehicles and more, it inevitably generates, acquires and accumulates intangible (non-physical) assets or goodwill or Intellectual Property – business name, reputation, trademarks, patents and more.
In many cases, these intangible assets might become very valuable and sometimes even more valuable than the rest of our business. Losing them or being unable to protect from unauthorized use might cause extreme damages to our business.
In today’s world, with many businesses operating exclusively online (e-commerce), or expanding internationally, proper understanding and timely protection of our Intellectual Property becomes one of the most important concerns in preservation of our business future success and growth.
This is why, as business owners and entrepreneurs, we must understand what Intellectual Property is and how to protect it.
Trademarks
Trademark – this is probably the most common and popular type of Intellectual Property – TM provides a protection to the names of our products and services. TM cannot protect our company name unless it is being used in conjunction with the products’ or services’ names.
TM registration is effective only in those countries where an application was submitted, it is not worldwide protection and business owners must ensure that they apply for the TM registration in every region of the business’ operations.
It is highly advisable to use a professional Intellectual Property consultant in order to establish a proper regime of IP registration and ongoing protection.