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Though the league has no plans to change the team’s name, it can appeal to the USPTO. But the entire experience illustrates the importance of choosing strong trademarks and getting them registered and protected, regardless of the size or profile of the applicant or mark.

In Canada, one of the primary benefits of getting a trademark registered is that the trademark owner will be able to enforce its trademark rights anywhere in the country. Many startups wrongly assume they don’t need to devote scarce resources to trademark applications since their marks are not yet necessarily worth protecting. However, those unregistered trademark owners in, say, Toronto, inevitably find they cannot do much about a similar trademark being used in, say, Calgary.

Further, trademark protection serves as part of a strong defence, not just an offence. I’ve seen many trademark owners elect not to protect their trademarks, only to find themselves on the receiving end of a cease-and-desist letter from a party with possible priority rights to the trademark. A registered trademark would go a long way in mitigating against the possibilities of these disputes.

It is advisable to search for the availability of your trademark before you start using it. Trademark lawyers and agents can help you conduct searches of the CIPO database and other forums to confirm whether your trademark is likely to be denied, approved or opposed by a third party who might have prior rights to a similar or identical mark. Trademark law in Canada and the U.S. prohibits a trademark from getting registered if it is confusingly similar with another trademark. There are numerous legal elements that are considered in the determination of “confusion,” but whether the marks are similar based on their overall impressions is chief among them.