Advanced Search

Combining Queries

A search can consist of up to five criteria in the "search text" boxes in five different fields. This type of search is accomplished through the use of boolean operators (AND, OR, BUT NOT) to combine several criteria, refine a search and obtain more specific or relevant results.

The operator AND ensures that both search criteria are present in the resulting documents, the operator OR ensures that at least one of the search criteria is present in the resulting documents and the operator BUT NOT is used to exclude words or phrases from a query.

For example, the query "red AND apple" will locate documents containing both these words in the selected field(s), "red OR apple" will locate all documents containing at least one of these words in the selected field(s). And the query "red BUT NOT apple" will locate documents that contain the word "red" but will exclude all documents containing the word "apple" in the selected field(s).

Capital/Small Letters, Accents and Special Characters

The search engine is case and accent insensitive. For example, a search for the word "ete" would find the words "été","été" or "ETE".

The search engine is programmed to ignore punctuation except for the punctuation &, @, $, %, ^, <, +, #, | and ~. Punctuation is replaced by a space. For example, a search for the word "on-line" would find the words "on line", "on-line" and "On Line". A search for "@com" would find the words "@com", "@Com" or "@COM".

Truncation and Wildcard Characters

Truncation and wildcard characters add flexibility to your searches. The search engine is designed to recognize the asterisk (*) and the question mark (?) as wildcard indicators. You can use these special characters to broaden your searches using either the multiple or single character wildcard.

Wildcards are useful for searching truncation and word stems (e.g. pharm* to retrieve pharmacy, Pharmaceuticals, etc.) or variant spellings (e.g. organi?ation to retrieve organization or organisation).

Multiple character wildcard
Substitute (*) for a sequence of zero or more characters (e.g. to search for pharmacy and pharmaceutical, use "pharm*").
Single character wildcard
Substitute (?) for a single wildcard character (e.g. "organi?ation" will match different spellings: "organization" or "organisation").
Wildcards in multiple terms
Wildcards can be used in multiple search terms (e.g. Canad* Gov*).
Wildcards in front of characters string
Wildcards can also be used in front of a character string (e.g. *national will match different terms such as National, International). Using this search method may not perform as well as if you were searching with a character string followed by a wildcard character.

Select category of trademark

After the "search text" and "field" search criteria have been entered, select the category of mark documents in the "category of trademark" window. You can choose from:

  • "all" which searches all of the following "categories";
    • "trademarks" including certification marks, distinguishing guise, specific mark, standardization mark or union label;
    • certification marks;
    • distinguishing guise;
    • geographical indications;
    • denominations;
    • "section 9 marks" consisting of official mark, prohibited mark, flag, official sign or hallmark, armorial bearing, abbreviation of name, name, emblem, arms, crest or emblem;
    • "other marks" consisting of marks protected by federal act of incorporation or mark protected by an Act respecting the Royal Canadian Legion.

Please see the section Category of Mark Documents for more details in this regard.

Select type of trademark

This section allows you to search the different types of trademarks that can apply to an application. You may select any of these types to limit your search to only one or many types by choosing the type of mark in the "type of trademark" window. However, to conduct a thorough search, choose ALL only as your choice.

You can choose from:

All
All types of trademarks.
Word
A trademark that only consists of standard typographical characters.
Design
A trademark consisting of a word(s) and/or design(s) or a combination of both in a special form.
Sound
A trademark consisting of a sound.

Select status of trademark

Search the current status of the trademark documents using the "status of trademarks" window. You can choose from all, all active, pending, registered, all inactive. For a general search use the "all" status. Use "all active" to exclude abandoned and expunged marks.

The "pending" and "registered" status are specific and limit your search results. Please see the section Trademark Status for more details.

Select one action or select "All"

You may restrict your search by selecting an "action" (filed, advertised, registered or inactivated trademarks) within a specified date range. Enter the appropriate start and end dates if you are interested in a specific range. If you do not wish to restrict your search by selecting an "action", select "all" from the drop-down menu.

Please note that if you modify the default date selection, you must specify an action other than "All"; otherwise, your search results will be invalid.

The advertised date signifies:

  • the date a trademark is advertised in the Trademarks Journal;
  • the date public notice is given in the Trademarks Journal under Section 9 of the Trade-marks Act;
  • the date that plant variety denominations are advertised in the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s Plant Varieties Journal; and
  • the date that geographical indications for wines and spirits have been published in the Canada Gazette.

The registered date signifies:

  • the date a trademark is registered;
  • the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’sgrant date for plant variety denominations;
  • the date that geographical indications for wines and spirits have been entered on the list; and
  • the date that Royal Canadian Legion marks are granted protection pursuant to an Act respecting the Royal Canadian Legion.

Add Vienna Codes

The Vienna codes describe figurative elements of the trademark designs. The professional trademark users can type the codes directly in the five "Search Text" boxes and select the search field "Vienna code" or type words from the Vienna codes description and select the field "Vienna Codes Description".

You also can click on the "Vienna Codes" button and select the figurative elements described in the Vienna Codes page. The Figurative Elements of the Vienna Code are grouped by category, division, section and auxiliary. The first step is to select the category by clicking the red arrow. The divisions of the selection will appear and you can select the entire division by clicking the check box or, using the red arrow to expand the division to the section level and select specific sections. You can also expand the section level to the auxiliary level if one exists.

When you select the check box of a division, you select all subsequent levels in sections and auxiliaries. Similarly, when you select the check box of a section, you will select the entire auxiliaries of this Section.

You can select as many divisions, sections or auxiliaries as you need. The search engine will attach the operator "OR" between each selection of division and section. When you select an auxiliary, the search engine will attach the operator "AND" between the auxiliary and the section, however the section and its auxiliary will be attached with the other selections by the operator "OR".

The "Clear Selection" button will reset the Vienna codes page. When your selections are completed, you can decide to execute the "Search" button or you can return to the main Trademarks Search page by clicking the "Back to search" button.

Select the number of documents to be returned

You can limit the number of hits or results that the search will produce to the maximum indicated. By default, the maximum documents to be returned is 500. The results are ranked based on the hit count which is the number of times individual query words or search criteria appear in the selected field(s).

A hit count equal to the maximum number selected means other relevant documents may not have been picked up. To obtain all relevant documents, you should increase the maximum limit or adjust your search criteria.

Select the number of documents per page

By default, the maximum results per list is 10 documents. This option lets you define the maximum number of documents displayed per list.

The results are ranked based on the hit count. Hit count refers to the number of times individual query words or search criteria appear in the selected field(s).

Executing the Search

Once the search criteria have been entered, use the "Search" button to execute the search. A new search can be conducted by using the "Reset" button which will clear the search criteria and reset the default settings.

Verifying Results

The results or hits of your query are then displayed and may be printed using the "Print" button of your browser. Click on one of the results/lines to view the detailed trademark information (application number, registration number and date registered if applicable, current status, current owner, trademark, design of the trademark if the mark consists of or includes design features, all claims to registration, owner name and address and goods and/or services associated with the trademark).

The "Back" button of your browser allows you to return to the list of results and continue verifying results in the same manner.

Confusion

When searching for a trademark for the purposes of determining whether or not a confusing trademark exists, it is recommended that you also search for phonetic equivalents, synonyms and translations into French or English of the mark that is the subject of the search.

The basic rationale or test for determining whether there is confusion between trademarks is the following: Would a prospective purchaser upon seeing one trademark applied to certain goods and/or services, and seeing another trademark on similar goods/services, reasonably assume that the goods and/or services in both cases emanated from the same source? If the answer is yes, confusion probably exists between the two trademarks.

If the mark that you are searching is comprised of several words, it may be necessary for those words to be searched separately. The section of the Guide to Trademarks entitled Causing confusion could be of assistance in this regard.

Searching design marks is the most complex form of trademark searching. Searching design marks may be completed using the Vienna Classification System. The information contained in the "trademark" and "trademark description" fields can be used to locate trademarks either consisting of or including design features. This may affect the results of keyword searches.

You can also try to use any other available information on the trademark (owner's name, goods or services covered, registration number) to locate it. It is recommended that an experienced trademark searcher be consulted if a thorough search is required. Consequently, particular vigilance is required in this regard.