FAQ
1. Are you registered patent and trademark agents?
2. Are you licensed lawyers?
3. How do your fees work?
4. Do you offer in-person meetings?
5. Do you represent individuals or small businesses?
6. What is IP?
7. How to register IP in Canada?
8. What’s the difference between a trademark vs a patent vs a trade secret?
9. Why should I register my IP?
10. Should I register my IP just in my home country, or across the globe?
3. How do your fees work?
Most of what we do is charged by flat-fee, rather than the traditional hourly law firm model.
Charging flat fees allows us to focus on quality, and allows our clients to control their budgets.
Certain limited services are charged hourly, with estimates in advance.
Qualified clients can receive a yearly flat rate for all the benefits of outside counsel for a less-than in-house price.
5. Do you represent individuals or small businesses?
We represent a wide array of people and businesses, including individuals, partnerships, joint ventures, small businesses, domestic and foreign law firms, accounting firms, and patent and trademark agencies, and even larger corporate interests both in Canada and abroad.
Our prices and services are accessible across the spectrum, and we welcome the opportunity to help anyone develop their intellectual property portfolio.
We have experience in every step of the way.
6. What is IP?
IP is a generally accepted acronym for Intellectual Property, which refers to at least one or more of the following types of protection, namely patents, trademarks, copyright, industrial design, trade-secret, plant-breeders rights, and integrated circuit topography.
There can be other types of Intellectual Property as well.
7. How to register IP in Canada?
Registrations relating to intellectual property are administered by the Federal Government via the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO).
CIPO attends to providing registrations and grants relating to patents, trademarks, industrial designs, copyrights, integrated circuit topographies, and plant-breeder’s rights.
Although people can apply for intellectual property grants and registrations on their own, CIPO encourages people to use registered patent and trademark agents as a best practice for protecting people’s rights.
8. What’s the difference between a trademark vs a patent vs a trade secret?
A patent grant protects an invention and gives a patentee an exclusive right for twenty years to commercially practice that invention.
A trademark registration protects a word, logo, brand, or slogan, commercially used in association with products and services so as to identify the source of those products and services.
A trade secret is not administered through the Canadian Intellectual Property Office, but instead is a common-law agreement between parties to maintain proprietary and advantageous information in confidence and strict secrecy.
9. Why should I register my IP?
Registration of various intellectual property rights serves to make life easier for intellectual property owners.
By registering and obtaining various intellectual property grants, creators and businesses are able generally able to protect their creations and endeavours from unauthorized copying, thus optimizing their chances of succeeding in their commercial market.
10. Should I register my IP just in my home country, or across the globe?
While it is often useful to register intellectual property rights in other countries, such should be done in a careful and reasoned manner.
Registering intellectual property rights in your home country is your best start, and a registered patent and trademark agent can help guide you when it comes time to consider applying for similar rights in other countries.