Trade-Marks
3. Getting Started
(d) Registration of a Trade-Mark and Beyond
Once all of these requirements have been fulfilled, a Certificate of Registration will issue for your trade-mark. In a fairly routine case, it will take approximately 1 - 2 years from the date the application is filed to complete the prosecution process, and to obtain a Certificate of Registration. The registration is valid for fifteen (15) years, and can be renewed indefinitely, every fifteen years upon payment of the required renewal fees.
After you have registered your trade-mark it is essential that you continue to use the trade-mark in association with the wares or services listed in the Certificate of Registration. There is a procedure under Section 45 of the Trade-marks Act which permits "dead wood" trade-mark registrations to be cancelled for non-use. Under Section 45, any person may request the Trade-marks Office (after the registration has been issued for at least three years) to issue a notice to the owner of a registered trade-mark, requiring the owner to provide evidence that the trade-mark has been in use by the owner or its licensee, within the previous three years (or to indicate when the trade-mark was last used, and the reason for the non-use since that time). If the owner is unable to show that the trade-mark was in use at some time during this period, or that there were special circumstances justifying the non-use, then the registration is liable to be expunged from the Trade-marks Register.