Canada
Copycat sellers do not stop at the US border, and neither do we. We monitor Amazon.ca and eBay.ca, file human-reviewed notices as your authorized agent, and confirm each listing actually comes down.
Why borders matter
A US trademark does not protect you in Canada. The USPTO says trademarks must be filed in each country where protection is sought, and the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) says registering with the Registrar protects your rights in Canada only. A Canadian registration lasts 10 years and can be renewed.
Between competing pending applications, CIPO uses the filing date to decide who is entitled to registration. The Trademarks Act also lets another business's earlier use of a confusing mark in Canada block an application, and CIPO notes that using a mark can create common law rights. Waiting to file leaves room for someone else to get there first.
CIPO says a work is protected by copyright the moment it is created and fixed in a material form. Registering with CIPO is voluntary. A certificate is evidence that copyright subsists in the work, though a court can still challenge that evidence, and CIPO does not verify the claims made in an application.
Under sections 41.25 and 41.26 of the Copyright Act, an intermediary that receives a compliant notice forwards it to the person behind the listing. The sections do not require the intermediary to remove anything, so marketplace takedowns rest on each platform's own policy.
General information, not legal advice. See the sources behind each statement.
Where we work
The same daily monitoring, human review and removal verification we run in the US, applied to the Canadian marketplaces and rights that matter.
Amazon.ca
eBay.ca
Rights we work from
Marketplace programs change. We confirm the current route for amazon.ca and eBay.ca with you before anything is filed. Another marketplace? Mention it in your audit request.
How it works
We inventory your trademarks, copyrights and product imagery country by country, note where each right is registered, and run a baseline search on Amazon.ca and eBay.ca. A US mark on its own covers the US.
We help enroll your rights in Brand Registry and VeRO for each market where you hold marks. Where a Canadian trademark filing is needed, we coordinate qualified Canadian counsel.
Daily scans of the Canadian storefronts match new listings against your image library, brand names and product titles.
A person reviews every match. Valid ones go through the marketplace's own IP program as your authorized agent, with your original shown next to the infringing listing. Canada's notice and notice rules are a separate route, and we choose the right tool for each case.
We recheck each reported listing until the platform acts. A notice counts as done only when the listing is confirmed gone.
A monthly report shows what was found, filed and removed, what is pending, and which sellers keep coming back, split by region.
Copyright Act, ss. 41.25 and 41.26
Canada's online copyright rule asks intermediaries to pass notices along. It does not ask them to take content down.
This is general information, not legal advice.
Services and starting prices
Starting prices are in US dollars. Quotes in CAD on request.
Start here
From
$2,500
One time
Ongoing protection
From
$1,500/mo
Per brand
Smaller brands
From
$30
Per confirmed removal, $500/month minimum
In-house teams
From
$15,000
Project
Final pricing depends on the number of brands, products, marketplaces and regions in scope. Quotes in CAD on request. Government filing fees are billed at cost. See also IP Protection Strategy.
Local legal work
Where Canadian legal work is needed, such as trademark filings or opinions, we coordinate qualified Canadian counsel so you keep one point of contact.
Legal services are provided by our partner fractional IP attorney under their own engagement letter; Hauserman Listing Guard is not a law firm.
Registering in Canada
Applying to the Canadian Intellectual Property Office protects a brand in Canada only, for 10 years at a time. CIPO says you do not have to hire an agent but that it is often advisable. Qualified Canadian counsel handles the filing itself.
Canada joined the Madrid Protocol on 17 June 2019. A brand owner with a home trademark can designate Canada in an international application, and CIPO then handles it like a national filing. CIPO writes only to the applicant or to a Canadian trademark agent with a Canadian address, so notices can be missed without one.
Platforms look for rights in the country of the store. Amazon asks for a trademark from the office of a country with a corresponding Amazon store, and its pending-application route is limited to certain cases. The sooner a Canadian filing is made, the sooner those programs open up.
Your US rights keep working in the US, and automatic copyright in your photos and text can support a notice in Canada while a trademark application is pending.
FAQ
Read: does Canada have a DMCA-style takedown for copied product photos?
Sources
Free Dupe Audit
Tell us your brand, where you sell and in which countries. We will run a one-time search and send a short summary of the dupes and copied photos we find.
Legal services are provided by our partner fractional IP attorney under their own engagement letter; Hauserman Listing Guard is not a law firm.