Canadian Trademarks Database Tutorial - Lesson 4: Additional Search Options

There are six different search filters available to further refine and to achieve preferred results. You may choose to utilize one or more search alternatives.

Click on the particular arrow associated with the desired search option to expand.

The “Expand all” button enables you to release all search options.

The “Collapse all” button enables you to close all search options.

In this lesson we will cover the following:


Searching by category

  1. To search by trademark category, select the checkbox of one or more desired categories (excluding “All”) to generate a checkmark. Click the “All” checkbox if you wish to select all categories. 

For more detailed explanations of each trademark category, see “The various categories of marks ” section from the Database’s Assistance file.

Searching by type

  1. To search by trademark type, select the checkbox of one or more desired types (excluding “All”) to generate a checkmark. Click the “All” checkbox if you wish to select all types.

Go to “Select type of trademark ” section from the Database’s Assistance file to learn more.

Searching by status

  1. To search by trademark status, select the checkbox of one or more desired statuses (excluding “All”) to generate a checkmark. Click the “All” checkbox if you wish to select all statuses.

For more detailed explanations of each trademark status, see “How to read the trademark status categories” section from the Database’s Assistance file.

Searching by action dates

  1. To search by action dates, click the drop-down menu to select the desired action.
    Note: By selecting the “All” action, the selection of dates will be disabled.

  2. Proceed to enter or click the calendar icon to select the “From” and “To” date ranges.

  3. Once completed, click “Add Date” to display it under ‘Dates added to search’.

You can choose to add or remove (click “x”) multiple action date ranges.

For more detailed explanations of each action, see “Description of Dates ” section of the Database’s Assistance file.

Searching by Vienna classification

The Canadian Trademarks Database can also be searched by the graphic elements of the trademark design (often referred to as a "logo" or "symbol"). In this tutorial the "symbol"/"logo" will be referred to as the "design" so as to maintain consistency with the terminology of the Canadian Trademarks Database.

Vienna Codes

An internationally-accepted standard has been developed to classify the design of trademarks where each graphic element in a trademark design is assigned a numerical code. This standard is referred to as a “Vienna Code Classification.”

  1. Click the “Category” drop-down menu to select the desired code, followed by the division.
  2. Proceed to click “Add” to display codes under “Vienna codes added to search”. Repeat if you wish to add a particular section and/or auxiliary. You can select one or more, as well as all figurative groupings.

You can choose to add or remove (click “x”) multiple Vienna codes.

Note: the “Add” button enables you to add codes according to the particular figurative elements you wish to search by.

For example:

  • Category and Division
  • Category, Division and Section
  • Category, Division, Section and Auxiliary

To locate trademarks with a number of design criteria, you will need to perform searches on multiple Vienna Codes.

Organization of Vienna Codes

Vienna Codes are organized into groups and sub-groups by the type of graphic element that each group represents. They are grouped into four levels:

  • Category
  • Division
  • Section
  • Auxiliary

Here is an example of how it works:

Let's say you have a trademark that consists of three stars:

Vienna Codes and three star trademark

Category 1

Celestial bodies, natural phenomena, geographical maps

Division 1.1

Stars, comets

Section 1.1.1

Stars

Auxiliary A 1.1.4

Three stars

Go to “Add Vienna classification codes ” section of the Database’s Assistance file to learn more.

Modifying the display of results

You have the option to display the results as list or grid format, as well as indicate the number of results returned (100, 200, 500, 1000, 2000, or 5000)

The default number is 500 results returned.

  1. Click the drop-down bar to select the desired identification.
  2. Once completed, click “Search” to generate search results. You may also click “Clear” to restart. 

Go to “Select the number of results to be returned” section of the Database’s Assistance file to learn more.