How Canadian government fees will be calculated once your trademark is examined?

CIPO currently charges government fees per class:

• C$458.00 for the first class (approx. $342), and
• C$139.00 for each additional class (approx. $105).

However, in the Canadian government fees are calculated differently from other countries even though they are charged per class. What does it mean?

For example, let’s say you filed an application in 2 classes:

Class 28: Toys and Class 25: Clothing (and by mistake you also put “watches” in class 25 not realizing they actually belong to class 14.). You paid the government fees for 2 classes (C$458.00+C$139.00) and the application is going into the examination. Once the application is examined, a CIPO examiner will determine if your original choice of classes was correct. In this case, he/she will tell you that Watches belong to class 14. So, you’ll have to pay for an additional fee (C$139.00) for adding the 3rd class, EVEN IF YOU DECIDE TO DELETE IT. Simply deleting it will not avoid having to pay the extra government fee.

This is how Canada is different from the US, EU, UK, Germany, and many other countries and a Canadian application filed incorrectly or without a careful selection of classes may end up very expensive.

The takeaway:

It’s best to use a pre-approved list of goods and services to avoid surprises like this and having to pay extra in government fees.

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