Trade-marks: Ensure that your brand is distinctive, not descriptive
A stylized check mark or “swoosh”; a red bulls-eye target; rounded golden arches shaped like the letter “M”: an easily recognizable trade-mark is one of the most important assets a business can have. It helps create brand loyalty and goodwill among customers and can raise a business’ profile and ultimately, its profit. In an increasingly globalized world where brand recognition and customer loyalty are paramount, protecting one’s trade-marks is crucial.
Patents, Trade-marks, and Copyrights as Collateral
Property that a borrower has pledged as security in a transaction is often referred to as collateral. Your intellectual property (‘IP’) rights are assets that can be used as collateral for financing your business through a secured transaction. Historically, borrowers and lenders only used land as collateral. However, as the economic base of society shifted, other types of property acquired value, and borrowers and lenders began to recognize its worth as collateral.
Trademark Protection for Domain Names
A domain name is an address that is used to identify and find web pages on the Internet. A business’ domain name is central to the web-based activities that it conducts. Trademark registration is the most effective way of protecting your website domain name and many businesses register domain names that contain their trademarks.
A New Threat to the Rights of Trademark Owners
Do you know that a typical Internet domain name consists of two parts? In view of the vast number of potential new gTLDs, trademark owners should be concerned that one or more of these proposed new domains might infringe their trademarks.
IP News Flash – “.xxx” domain names are coming!
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), announced in 2011 that the domain name “.xxx” is now available for registration. This means the public (e.g. the adult entertainment industry) could register your company name under .xxx.
“Good Faith” – How Good Must It Be?
Paragraph 73(1)(a) of the Patent Act deems a Canadian patent application to be abandoned if the applicant does not reply in good faith to any requisition made by an examiner during an Office Action. An issued patent could also be retroactively voided by operation of this subsection if and when challenged in a court of law.