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Protection of Intellectual Property in Technology Startup
Aside from competence of management team, control of intellectual property is a major focus of investor scrutiny. The ability to identify and protect intellectual property directly reflects on investor confidence and the resulting access to capital available to technology start-up. Protection of intellectual property assets is available through the law of copyright, trade secrets, patents and trademarks.
Taxation of a Startup
At some point in the growth of the business, entrepreneurs will have to hire and terminate employees. Employment in Canada is heavily regulated, governed by either federal or provincial legislation. Most employers are covered by provincial legislation. Federal employment laws apply only to industries within the federal government's jurisdiction.
Contact and Engagement Information for Foreign Associate Lawyers
1. Pinsky Law, Patent & Trademark Agents, is a business, technology and intellectual property law firm providing a range of cost effective legal services to support companies involved in the development, distribution and use of technology and intellectual property assets. We also serve as corporate general counsel on a part-time basis for clients whose management teams require dedicated, in-house legal management and resources, but are not yet large enough to justify hiring full-time general counsel.
2. In order to obtain a filing date in Canada, no document has to be signed by the applicant. In every case, we as solicitors or agents of record can sign all necessary papers required for a filing date. After our office is retained as solicitors or agents of record, we shall be pleased to provide copies of requisite formal documents, but most of them can most easily be prepared on our office computers and filed directly by ourselves on the applicant's behalf.
3. Canadian intellectual property law generally parallels the intellectual property law of other countries, but has a number of features that are not common to all other countries. For example, the United States has a "first to invent" patent regime, whereas Canada has a "first to file" patent regime. Regardless of who in fact was the first inventor for a given invention, the first applicant to file a patent application in the Canadian Patent Office to protect such invention will be granted the patent.
4. Canadian trademark regime is primarily "use"-based. Registration gives a number of important additional rights beyond those common-law rights generated by use, but use is a prerequisite to registration. This is in contrast to the trademark regimes of many civil-law countries in which rights derive primarily from registration, and often registration can be obtained without use of the trademark. Canada does not adhere to a classification system for wares and services. As a result, an unlimited range of goods and services can be included in an application in Canada without attracting additional government filing fees. Such is not the case in the United States, where each class included in an application attracts a filing fee of US$325.00. Filing fees in the United States can therefore quickly become prohibitive.
5. Canadian copyright law generally parallels the law of most countries subscribing to the Berne Convention on copyright. Again, however, there are a number of characteristics of Canadian law that do not coincide with those of some other countries. For example, Canada's "fair dealing" defence to infringement is markedly different from the United States "fair use" defence. See the menu topics on this website for further detail.
6. Our practice includes, but is not limited to, the foregoing three fields of law as well as the law relating to industrial designs, computer software, technology transfer, franchising and licensing, Internet law and miscellaneous intellectual property law such as plant breeders' rights, protection of semiconductor topographies, etc. If the information on this website does not include information on the topic of interest to you, please ask us for additional assistance.
7. Inquires for trademark registration in Canada and its cost must be accompanied at a minimum by the following information: (a) full name of the lawyer and law firm responsible for the trademark application; (b) full exact name of the trademark applicant; (c) full exact name of the trademark; (d) file number of the foreign trademark registration or foreign trademark application; (e) date and country of foreign trademark registration or foreign trademark application; (f) full list of wares and services (in their plain commercial terms) the trademark has to cover in Canada (international trademark classification is NOT used in Canada). Inquiries which do not provide this information will NOT receive a reply from our office.
8. Inquires for patent registration in Canada and its cost must be accompanied at a minimum by the following information: (a) full name of the lawyer and law firm responsible for the patent application; (b) full exact legal name of the patent applicant; (c) file number of the foreign patent registration or foreign patent application; (d) date and country of foreign patent registration or foreign patent application. Inquiries which do not provide this information will NOT receive a reply from our office.