EnMasse

Hephaestion

So, I'm helping a couple of local buddies of mine with this new business they're trying to start up -- I'll post later about what the business is all about and so on, but for the time being I'm hoping someone here can help me out / point me in the right direction with a few questions:

- Company name: is there somewhere I can go to do a search to determine that the company name they want to use is not already registered to someone else? We are *seriously* on a shoe-string budget here, so I'm most interested in responses that don't start with: "First, get yourself a lawyer..." I mean, if there's NO other option, we'll have to, I guess, but there ought to be some way to do it without having to spend gobs of money we can't afford on legal fees.

- Company logo: this one is less of a concern, 'coz what I've designed is based on a photograph that I took myself, although it *does* use the company name-of-choice as well -- although that part could be changed, if necessary.

- Company trademark: My buddies are wanting to mark each piece they produce with a trademark, to authenticate it as one of their own, the same way a silversmith will make his own unique mark on a piece to distinguish it from all others, including copies. (Did'ja know that Paul Revere's silver works are still identified by his own unique mark, f'r instance?) Anyway, they want to make up a sort of "brand" that they can burn into each piece, and one of them has even designed a couple of options... we have also talked to a friendly jewelery-maker/goldsmith about crafting such an item, based on my buddy's design, but before we get him to make it up, we want to make sure that it IS distinct, and doesn't look too similar to any others out there.

We are well aware that in order to actually have the name, logo and trademark registered, we will prolly have to go through a lawyer, but I'm hoping that as far as the search part of it goes we can do that without having to pay a bunch of frickin'-frackin' legal fees. Any advice/help in this matter would be muchly appreciated.
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"The dignity of an animal is measured by his capacity to revolt in the face of oppression." -- Mikhail Bakunin

TS. · Posted: Sat Nov 07, 2009 10:42 pm Post subject:

Re: Company name - check out the BC Corporate Registry (you can find their name search page here). You just plug in the name you want to search, and it tells you if that is already an incorporated company anywhere in Canada. What it won't tell you is whether the name is in use by an unincorporated partnership, limited partnership or sole-proprietorship. For that one, you might just try google.

Re: Company logo - I don't know if there is a corporate logo database. Though you could try website of the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (here). I believe this is a federal only thing, there won't be a separate one for BC.

Re: Company trademark - you can search for trademarks through the CIPOs trademark database, which you can find here.

It may be worth sending an email to the CIPO general information address regarding the logo and trademark. I would expect they have someone whose job it is to answer these questions.
_________________
"Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blind-folded fear." - Thomas Jefferson

Hephaestion · Posted: Sun Nov 08, 2009 12:55 am Post subject:

MOST excellent... thanks for the help, TS.
_________________
"The dignity of an animal is measured by his capacity to revolt in the face of oppression." -- Mikhail Bakunin

Corey · Non-Threatening Boy Joined: 12 Apr 2006 Posts: 1972

B.C. Business Registry: Name Approval

If you choose to incorporate, you can do so provincially or federally.
I formed a federal corporation once, entirely on my own, easily.
Corporations Canada: federal incorporation
Corporate Online: B.C. provincial incorporation
Self-Counsel Press Incorporation Guide for British Columbia

A wealth of information on trademark registration:
CIPO: Trade-Marks

The first trade-mark agents listed on the B.C. list have a friendly website with some further information too; leaf around:
Accupro Trademark Services

Corey · Non-Threatening Boy Joined: 12 Apr 2006 Posts: 1972

Oooh. You'll be making distinctive goods? You should get to know the parallel form of intellectual property protection for Industrial Designs.

Corey · Non-Threatening Boy Joined: 12 Apr 2006 Posts: 1972

Here's an example of a visual logo in the CIPO trademark database. This registration was abandoned.

Corey · Non-Threatening Boy Joined: 12 Apr 2006 Posts: 1972

Corey · Non-Threatening Boy Joined: 12 Apr 2006 Posts: 1972

Relatedly, on domain names:

There has long been concern about a phenomenon sometimes called "domain sniffing." Some means of searching for domain names may not protect the privacy of their queries, and some squatter just might register that clever and unique name you searched for but didn't register immediately, not having come up with it themselves but solely on the basis of seeing the name on a list of names queried.

A few sites that promise to keep domain searches private:
instantdomainsearch.com
saferwhois.com
purewhois.com

Hephaestion · Posted: Sun Nov 08, 2009 6:45 am Post subject:

Wholly smokes, thanks Corey! That's a *wealth* of info... I'll be reading for awhile...
_________________
"The dignity of an animal is measured by his capacity to revolt in the face of oppression." -- Mikhail Bakunin

Corey · Non-Threatening Boy Joined: 12 Apr 2006 Posts: 1972

I'm a fan of federal incorporation over provincial, if you choose to incorporate. This is relevant, from Industry Canada's Corporations Canada itself:

TS. · Posted: Thu Nov 26, 2009 7:35 am Post subject:

You're certainly entitled to that belief, Cory, but I feel like I should pass on the view of my professor in Business Associations (essentially an introductory course in corporate law) that there is no functional difference between federal and provincial incorporation. WRT to the second point in that quote from Industry Canada, any provincially incorporated company can very easily register to carry on business in another province. You don't have to go through the rigmarole of incorporation again, just paying a small registration fee.
_________________
"Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blind-folded fear." - Thomas Jefferson

Corey · Non-Threatening Boy Joined: 12 Apr 2006 Posts: 1972

TS. · Posted: Thu Nov 26, 2009 5:20 pm Post subject:

If you check out the link I gave upthread for the BC Corporate Registry, when you search a name, it lists corporations by that name in other provinces, so it should avoid that problem, though I suppose that wouldn't deal with the possibility of someone maliciously using a name very similar to that of your company. But then again, federal law can't stop someone from doing that either. All it does is stop someone registering the exact same name. Even if I had a federally incorporated company called TS' Restaurant Inc., it wouldn't stop someone from registering a corporation called TS's Restaurant (Manitoba) Inc.
_________________
"Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blind-folded fear." - Thomas Jefferson