If I Register My Trademark, Does It Mean No One Can Use It?

So the general answer to that is yes but there are four exceptions and each of them would cover one word: Can't use my trademark.

Can't really means one thing. Would it be legal or would it be not legal. There are people—surprise, surprise!—who would do things that are illegal. So just because it's illegal for them to use your trademark doesn't mean that they won't do it. What it means is that if they do it, you would have legal recourse to go after them. So just because you registered your trademark doesn't mean that automatically everybody else would never even consider breaking the law and infringing on your mark.

Second word: use. What does use actually mean? So, use has a the very specific meaning in the trademark world and it means offering your product or service under that brand to the public or for services it's also advertising that brand. So simply mentioning the name of your startup in a news post or a Facebook post or a Twitter post does not constitute use for trademark purposes. So again, just because you trademarked your brand doesn't mean that you can now silence everybody into never mentioning it as part of their conversation. As long as they are not trying to sell your product or a competing product under your brand, that's not use.

The third word is my. What is your trademark, really? And this boils down to the products and services under which you trademark your brand. You may remember one the previous videos where I said that trademarks don't give you a monopoly over words, images, or phrases themselves. What a trademark gives you is a monopoly over the mental link between those words, images, and phrases and specific products and services that you use your trademark for. So if you have a business and you, let's say, are a software company and you come up with a brilliant name for it, it doesn't mean that somebody who sells bananas can't use the same name. So they're not using your trademark because your trademark only covers a particular set of industries that you have in your trademark application, maybe a few related ones, but it doesn't cover everything.

And finally, the fourth word is trademark. So, your trademark is national, so if you only have your Canadian trademark, your Canadian trademark stops in Canada. So somebody who is using the same brand in France is not using your trademark. Your trademark does not exist in France.

So, does registering my trademark make it easier for me to stop my competitors from using my brand to advertising their stuff? And the simple answer to this question is of course yes. But take that through the prism of Can’t Use My Trademark, the four exceptions.

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• 3 Most Important Benefits of Registering Trademarks ()
• Why Register a Trademark in Canada to Get a .CA Domain Name? ()
• What is Post-Allowance Statement / Declaration of Use? ()
• Am I Protected Between the Filing and the Registration of My Trademark? ()
• What Is Post-Registration Statement of Use? ()
• How to Use Trademarks to Create a Sense of Uniqueness for Your Business? ()
• What Goes Into a Trademark Application? ()
• What Happens If You Don't Respond to Correspondence from Trademarks Office in Time? ()
• What Makes a Brand Valuable? ()
• Is Registering a .COM Domain Name Enough to Secure Trademark Rights? ()
• Why Is It Important to Preserve Evidence of Use of My Trademarks? ()
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• What is Madrid Protocol? ()
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• Trademark Factory All-Inclusive package ()
• Trademarks vs. Trade Names ()
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• Will the Trademark Examiner Check Other Applied For Trademarks? ()
• Trademarking Words in a Fancy Font? ()
• Will the Trademark Examiner Check Unregistered Trademarks? ()
• You Received an Office Action. Now What? ()
• How Long Is a Trademark Registration Good For? ()
• When Should I Trademark My Brand? ()
• Why is Google the Textbook Example of What Not to Do with Your Trademark? ()
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• What Is the Difference Between Trademarks and Patents? ()
• How Should I List Products and Services in My Trademark Application? ()
• What Is the Difference Between Trademarks and Copyright? ()
• When Should I Trademark My Logo? ()
• What Are the Two Main Reasons My Trademark Application Can Be Rejected? ()
• What Is the Trademarking Process? ()
• Can I Mention Someone Else's Trademark on My Website? ()
• What Is An Acceptable Specimen of Use? ()
• What Are Generic, Descriptive, Suggestive, Arbitrary, and Fanciful Trademarks? ()
• What Is UDRP Uniform Domain Name Resolution Policy? ()
• How Do I Trademark Product Names? ()
• When Am I Allowed to Put TM Next To My Brand? ()
• How Do I Trademark Service Names? ()
• What Are Word Marks, Design Marks, and Combined Marks? ()
• What Should I Know About Trademarking Slogans and Taglines? ()
• Should I Trademark My Name Or My Logo ()
• Adding Elements to My Trademark to Overcome Confusion or Descriptiveness ()
• Are Famous Trademarks Treated Differently From Regular Trademarks ()
• Received an Invoice For International Publication of Trademark ()
• What Should I Do If Somebody Infringes on My Trademark ()
• Do Trademarks Protect Their Foreign Equivalents ()
• What Should I Do If Somebody Accuses Me of Infringing Their Trademark? ()
• Asian Domain Name Scam ()
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• Are Dead Trademarks a Problem? ()
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• What Does Using a Trademark Mean? ()
• How Do I Choose a Great Brand for my Business, Product, or Service ? ()
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• Supplemental Register ()
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• What Does Date of First Use Mean? ()
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• Why Is Search So Important? ()
• What Are Incontestable Trademarks? ()
• How Do I Check the Current Status of my Trademark Application? ()
• Important Amendments to Canada's Trademark Law ()
• How To Trademark a Name and Logo ()
• Trademarking Strategies For Life And Business Coaches ()
• How Do I Cancel Someone Else's Trademarks? ()
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• How George Clooney Made $1 Billion Using Trademarks? ()
• Misspellings and Other Changes to Get Around Someone Else's Trademark ()
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• Dividing a USPTO Trademark Application ()
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• Matrix of Success 2 Things a Business Needs for Success ()
• How Coca Cola Trademarked Their Brand ()
• Trademarks: Certainty vs. Commitment ()
• Trademarking Process In a Nutshell - TMs Into Rs Brand Protection Formula ()
• Can I Trademark An App ()
• 3 Types Of Businesses And What This Has To Do With Trademarks ()
• Incorporation vs Trademarking ()
• 3 Nasty Trademark Rip Offs And How To Avoid Them ()
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• The Madrid Protocol and International Trademarking - Updated for 2019 ()
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