I offer a low flat-fee rate on Canadian trademark applications – $750 in legal fees (+ HST) for each application, plus the fees charged by the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO).
For most applications, there will be no other charges to register your trademark in Canada.
The $750 flat-fee includes my time for the initial consultation and assessment of the proposed mark, a basic trademark availability searchI will check for identical or nearly identical marks already filed in Canada. Depending on your situation, this basic search may be all you need, but I can also conduct a variety of more thorough trademark searches at additional cost if required., drafting a statement of wares and services tailored to fit your business, preparing and filing the application, and reporting on the application through to registration, as well as filing the request for registration and obtaining the registration certificate.
During the initial consultation and assessment, I will give you an estimate of the likelihood that your mark will make it to registration. If required, I will suggest strategies to increase chances of registration, to improve the strength of your trademark and to build value in your brand.
Barring any complications, the total cost for each application will be:
+ $250 (CIPO application filing fee – no HST)
…and a further $200 CIPO registration fee (no HST), which is payable only if the mark registers. If the mark is rejected by CIPO, or if you choose not to proceed with registration, you do not have to pay this fee.
Work that is not included in the flat fee
Once the application is filed, an examiner from the trademarks office will review the application. While most properly drafted applications will be approved without incident, the examiner may object to an application for a variety of reasons by sending an “office action” letter. Office actions are most commonly issued because there is another mark on the register which the examiner feels is confusing, or because the wares and services specification needs to be amended for technical reasons, etc. Many of these objections can be overcome with a quick response making simple amendments to the application, but more complex objections require me to respond with legal argument in a letter. If I’m required to respond to an office action, I bill for my time at my hourly rate.
Once a mark is approved by the examiner, it will be published in the Trade-marks Journal – this is done in order to give members of the public (generally businesses with similar trademarks) who might object to the application an opportunity to file an “opposition” to the trademark. Oppositions are relatively rare – if an opposition is filed, we will be required to file legal argument and evidence to respond to the various grounds of the opposition. There may be a hearing, either in person or by phone. Time spent handling oppositions will be billed at my hourly rate.
Those are the most common circumstances in which I’d bill anything for your trademark application over and above the flat fee. If any complications arose that would require any additional fees, I will let you know in advance. If you decide at any point that it’s not worth continuing with the application, you always have the option of abandoning it at no additional cost.
Obviously, legal work that is not directly related to the application will not be included in the flat fee – work outside the scope of the application will be billed at my hourly rate. If you require an unusual amount of consultation in the course of the application process, or if your application involves an unusually extensive or complex list of wares and services, then I may charge an additional fee, but I will advise you of this in advance.
In the event that you decide not to proceed with filing an application after retaining me as your trademark agent, I would bill for time spent up to that point at my hourly rate up to a maximum of $750 per mark. Any remaining funds, and the CIPO application fee would be returned to you.
Note that filing a trademark application does not guarantee that the mark will be allowed to register. You will not have to pay the CIPO registration fee if your mark is rejected by CIPO or if you choose not to continue with an application after receiving an office action. Fees up to the point of rejection or abandonment are non-refundable.
