Canadian Trademarks Database Tutorial - Lesson 3: Refining Searches

If you’ve searched for a term and the Database has returned hundreds of records, you may want to refine your search so that you can find the “needle in the haystack”. In this section we will cover the following:


Using “search field” options

  1. You can search in specific fields by clicking the “Select a search field” drop-down menu.
  2. Select the desired search field. The default search field is “All”.
  3. Once completed, click “Search” to view your results. You may choose to click “Clear” to restart.

The fields may be used for the following reasons:

Searchable fields

All (Default)

To search by all the following fields

Trademark lookup

To search by all of the following fields: trademark, trademark description, foreign character translation and index headings

Application number

To search by the application number

Registration number

To search by the registration number

Current owner name

To search by the current owner's name

Old owner name

To search by an old owner's name

Old and current owner name

To search by all owners

Trademark

To search by words, numerals or letters in the trademark

Trademark description

To search by a description of the trademark

Foreign character translation

To search trademarks containing foreign characters

Index heading

To search by trademark word component

Goods

To search by goods associated with a trademark

Services

To search by services associated with a trademark

Goods and services

To search by both goods and services associated with a trademark

Nice classification

To search by a particular Nice classification category, click the drop-down selection bar to select one or more classes (press the “x” button to remove)

Disclaimer

To search by a portion of a trademark that is disclaimed

Vienna code

To search by the design of a trademark classified under the Vienna code 

Vienna description

To search by the description of a trademark's design elements

For more detailed explanations of each field, see "Searchable Fields" section of the Database's Assistance file.

Searching with multiple criteria

To enhance a search, you can combine up to five additional search criteria when performing a single search. An "operator" is used to tell the search engine how to combine the different criteria. There are three types of operators: "AND”, “OR”, and “BUT NOT".

  1. Click “Add another search criteria”.
  2. Click the drop-down menu to select the desired operator.

    Note: Only criteria 2 to 5 have this option.

  3. If you wish, repeat the ‘Using “search field” options ’ steps.
  4. Enter the desired term(s) in the “search criteria” field for each criterion added.
  5. Once completed, click “Search” to view your results. You may choose to click “Clear” to restart.

When entering multiple search criteria, select an operator based on the result you need:

And

Both search criteria will be included (e.g., "red AND apple" will locate records containing both these words)

Or

At least one of the search criteria will be included. (e.g., "red OR apple" will locate all records containing at least one of these words)

But not

Excludes words or phrases (e.g., "red BUT NOT apple" will locate records that contain the word "red" but will exclude all records containing the word "apple")