A registered trademark in Canada lasts 10 years from the registration date and can be renewed for further 10-year periods with no limit on the number of renewals. So the honest answer to how long a trademark lasts in Canada is: as long as you keep renewing it on time and keep using it in the Canadian marketplace. Miss a renewal deadline or stop using the mark, and the protection can disappear surprisingly quickly.
The 10-Year Registration Term
Once the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) registers your trademark, protection runs for 10 years from the registration date, not the filing date.1Canadian Intellectual Property Office. Trademarks Guide Examination can take a year or more, and the clock only starts when registration is granted.
Before June 17, 2019, the initial term was 15 years. Owners who registered under the old rules kept that longer first term, but their first renewal after that date moved them onto the current 10-year cycle.2Canadian Intellectual Property Office. Renewals of Trademark Registrations
Renewing the Registration
You can renew for successive 10-year periods with no cap on the number of renewals.3Canadian Intellectual Property Office. Registration and Renewal of Trademarks The renewal window opens six months before your registration’s expiry date, and the standard deadline is the expiry date itself.2Canadian Intellectual Property Office. Renewals of Trademark Registrations
If you miss the expiry date, the Registrar must send you a notice warning that your registration will be expunged if the fee is not paid within the prescribed period.4Department of Justice Canada. Trademarks Act – Section 46 That period runs from six months before expiry through at least six months after expiry. If the notice arrives late enough that two months from its date extends past that window, you get until two months after the notice instead.2Canadian Intellectual Property Office. Renewals of Trademark Registrations It is a narrow safety net, not a generous extension. CIPO notices can be delayed or lost, so your own docketing system is the only reliable safeguard.
Even after the prescribed period ends, you can apply for an extension, but the Registrar cannot grant more than seven additional days.4Department of Justice Canada. Trademarks Act – Section 46 Seven days. That covers a payment processing glitch, not a forgotten deadline.
2026 Renewal Fees
Renewal fees depend on the number of classes of goods or services in your registration and on whether you file online or on paper. For 2026:5Canadian Intellectual Property Office. Fees for Trademarks
- Online, first class: $595.06
- Online, each additional class: $185.49
- Paper or other non-online, first class: $744.10
- Paper or other non-online, each additional class: $185.49
Online filing saves about $149 on the first class, and the additional-class fee is identical either way. A registration covering three classes would run $965.04 to renew online. CIPO adjusts these fees annually, so confirm the current amount before you file.
If You Miss the Renewal Deadline
If the fee is not paid within the prescribed period (including the seven-day extension), the Registrar expunges the registration. The expungement is treated as taking effect at the end of the last registration or renewal period, not on the date the Registrar actually removes the entry.4Department of Justice Canada. Trademarks Act – Section 46 That retroactive timing leaves a gap in your registered protection, which matters if someone else files for a similar mark in the meantime.
The Trademarks Act provides no mechanism to reinstate an expunged registration. Your only path back is a fresh application and the full examination process. If a competitor filed a confusingly similar mark during the gap, the road back may be closed entirely.
Use It or Lose It: Section 45 Challenges
Paying the renewal fee does not, by itself, keep your registration safe. Once a trademark has been on the register for at least three years, anyone can pay a fee and ask the Registrar to issue a notice under Section 45 of the Trademarks Act, requiring the owner to prove the mark was used in Canada during the preceding three years.6Department of Justice Canada. Trademarks Act – Section 45 The Registrar can also start the process without any outside request.
You have three months from the notice to file an affidavit or statutory declaration showing use, with an extension of up to four additional months available on request.7Canadian Intellectual Property Office. FAQ on Section 45 Proceedings – The Registered Owner If you cannot demonstrate use and cannot show special circumstances excusing the gap, the Registrar can strike out the unused goods or services, or cancel the registration entirely.6Department of Justice Canada. Trademarks Act – Section 45
These challenges are common. Competitors and prospective applicants use them to clear space on the register. If your registration lists goods or services you abandoned years ago, those entries are vulnerable even if you actively use the mark for other items.
What Counts as Use
The Trademarks Act treats goods and services differently. For goods, the trademark must appear on the products or their packaging at the time ownership or possession transfers to the buyer in the normal course of trade. For services, the mark must be displayed in performing or advertising the services.8Government of Canada – Justice Laws Website. Trademarks Act – Section 4
One detail catches many owners off guard: goods manufactured in Canada and marked with the trademark count as used in Canada even if they are exported and never sold domestically.8Government of Canada – Justice Laws Website. Trademarks Act – Section 4 That export-use provision can save a registration for a brand that manufactures in Canada but sells only abroad.
Evidence in a Section 45 response needs to show real commercial transactions from the relevant three-year period. Invoices, product photos showing the mark on packaging, and screenshots of service advertisements are the kind of records the Registrar expects. Internal plans and token sales staged to preserve the registration will not do the job.
Losing Protection Through Genericization
A trademark can also lose its protection if it stops functioning as a brand identifier and becomes the generic word for the product. When consumers treat the mark as a common noun rather than a source indicator, its distinctiveness erodes. This tends to happen when the owner does not consistently enforce the mark or educate the public that the term is a brand name.
Canada has been comparatively protective on this front. Marks declared generic in the United States, like ASPIRIN and THERMOS, remain valid Canadian registrations. XEROX and GOOGLE have kept their Canadian registrations despite widespread casual use as verbs, helped along by active enforcement.
Unregistered Trademarks
Not every trademark in Canada is registered. Rights can be acquired simply by using a mark in the marketplace, without filing anything with CIPO.1Canadian Intellectual Property Office. Trademarks Guide These common law rights have no fixed term and no renewal deadline. They last as long as you keep using the mark and maintain your commercial reputation, but protection is confined to the geographic area where that reputation actually exists, and enforcement runs through a passing-off claim rather than the exclusive rights that come with a registration.