Business name registration vs trademark: does registering my business name protect it?

Founders often register a business name, or incorporate with a name, and assume the name is now theirs. In Canada, those filings are records. Exclusive rights in a brand come from trademark law.

How do they compare?

	Ontario business name registration	Corporate name	Registered trademark
What it is	A record of a name you operate under	Your company’s legal name, in its articles	A federal right in a name, logo or other sign that identifies your goods or services
Which law	Business Names Act (Ontario)	Ontario or federal corporate statute	Trademarks Act (federal)
Where you file	Ontario Business Registry	Ontario Business Registry or Corporations Canada	Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO)
Required?	Yes, if you operate under a name other than your own or your corporation’s legal name	Every corporation has one, a name or a number	No
Exclusive right to the name?	No	Not a trademark right	Yes, across Canada, for the registered goods and services
How long it lasts	Five years, renewable	As long as the corporation exists	10 years, renewable every 10 years
If you skip it	Fines, and you may need the court’s permission to sue in Ontario	Not applicable	You rely on unregistered rights, which are harder to enforce

When do I have to register a business name?

When you use a name other than your legal one. Section 2 of the Business Names Act says a corporation can’t carry on business or identify itself to the public under a name other than its corporate name unless it registers that name, and an individual can’t do so under a name other than their own. A registration lasts five years and can be renewed (ss. 4 and 5). If you don’t register, you can’t bring a court proceeding in Ontario in connection with that business without the court’s permission (s. 7), and you can be fined up to $2,000, or $25,000 for a corporation (s. 10). A numbered company that operates under a brand usually needs one. See numbered companies and business name registration.

Why doesn’t it protect the name?

Because that isn’t its purpose. The Act tells the public who is behind a name; it doesn’t decide who has rights in it. The Ontario Business Registry’s terms say the person filing takes responsibility for any risk of confusion or legal action from a name that is the same as or similar to an existing corporation, business name or trademark. Incorporating with a name doesn’t create trademark rights either; a NUANS report only checks a proposed name against existing names and marks.

What does a trademark add?

An exclusive right. Under section 19 of the Trademarks Act, a valid registration gives the owner the exclusive right to use the trademark throughout Canada for the goods and services in the registration. It lasts 10 years and can be renewed under section 46. CIPO’s trademarks guide notes that a trade name can be registered as a trademark only if it’s also used to identify goods or services.

What if I never register a trademark?

Using a name in business can still give you some common law rights, and section 7 of the Trademarks Act prohibits directing public attention to goods, services or a business in a way likely to cause confusion with someone else’s. But you have to prove those rights from the facts of your use, and CIPO’s guide warns that disputes over unregistered marks can be long and expensive.

When to choose which

• Business name registration: whenever you trade under a name that isn’t your legal name or your corporation’s legal name. It’s a compliance step, not protection.
• A named corporation: when you want the brand as your legal name on contracts and invoices. See can I incorporate before I have a business name.
• A registered trademark: once you’ve chosen a company or product name you plan to keep, filed in the company’s name. Search first. See how to register a trademark and our trademark class finder.

What to do next

We handle trademark searches and filings and incorporations, at fixed fees on our fees page; government fees are extra.

This guide is general information about Ontario and Canadian law, not legal advice for your situation. To check a name before you commit to it, book a free 15-minute consult.