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Strictly speaking, a logo is already your trademark once you register with the proper regulating bodies in Canada. The main purpose of this article, however, is to discuss the benefits when you register logo as trademark. So in that context, the redundancy can be forgiven. Under Canadian laws, applying for registration on your trademark is not a requirement. In fact, when it is already established that you have been using the logo for quite a bit of time, you will be recognized as the owner of that logo and thus, entitled to some trademark rights. But those rights are limited compared to the rights afforded to you if you register the logo. Difference between registered and unregistered The main difference is the geographical reach of your rights. When you fail to secure your logo by applying for trademark registration, your rights will extend only within your proximate geographic area. If somebody else is using your brand name, you will have to prove to the court that you own that trademark. As everybody knows, litigation can cost money which would have been avoided if the owner had just paid the cost of registration. In contrast, when you register your logo as trademark your rights are broad and the exclusivity is protected all over Canada for 15 years. You can also renew the trademark rights every 15 years thereafter. Any trademark infringement can result to fines and confiscation of the bootlegged items. Protecting your brand The counterfeit industry is already costing $25 billion worldwide. But brand owners are not letting up by prosecuting the counterfeiters even at great costs to them. Chanel for example, which is one of the most imitated brands in the world, should be mindful about protecting its reputation which can be damaged by cheap imitations. It makes no sense to allow some stranger to destroy the brand that you spent years to build up. Secure your logo and protect design through trademark registration to make sure you can go after the counterfeit artists with the full protection of the law behind you. Shifting the burden of proof Once you secure your logo, your place the burden of proof on your competitor to establish its ownership of your brand. For that alone, it’s worth your time to register your trademark. Registering your logo also means that you don’t have to have market reputation, which is one of the requirements with unregistered trademark. Prosecution is easier because you don’t have to prove to the court that your competitors’ use of your brand resulted to losses in profits or customers on your part. Regardless of whether the competitor wants it or not, the court can order it to stop using your brand or a similar variation of it. Author has specialization in intellectual property law and legal services including services to register logo as trademark. In this write up he provides guideline to Secure logo and protecting your business logo.
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