CIPO offers a very sophisticated trademarks search on its website.

Unfortunately, as with most government websites, the interface is less than user-friendly.

This is why I created my own script that allows you to search for registered trademarks and trademark applications and displays information in a much more visually pleasing way.

Unfortunately, because of how CIPO’s database is designed, my search can only be used for the basic search, not the advanced search.

Feel free to use it. And if you do – please don’t forget to tweet about it!

I am often asked to share my comments about the amendments to the Canadian Copyright Act that are proposed in the Bill C-11.

In my opinion, they are nothing more than the result of an attempt to “balance” the interests which by definition cannot be balanced, to find a viable compromise between food and poison. Bill C-11 looks very much as if the drafters thought, “Let’s take a little bit from this group of people and give it to that group of people, and in order for it to be able to pass, let’s also take from that second group of people and give something back to the first group of people.”

What the law is and what the law should be are two separate issues. No matter what form the amended Copyright Act will take, I will be able to serve my clients’ best interests.

As to what the law should be, I am convinced that this question cannot be answered without first addressing the foundational question of why we have copyright laws at all. In this sense, William Patry is 100% correct in his new book, “How to Fix Copyright”. I am currently writing a long review of the book to show how wrong Mr. Patry is in his analysis and in the remedies he is offering.

Meanwhile, I decided to phase out my personal website at MINCOV.COM and repost some of my older posts from there that deal with the copyright reform and my vision of the philosophy of copyright.

The first one is about the parody exception to copyright. Unfortunately, Canadian legislators decided to include the parody exception in Bill C-11. I wrote that article before this proposal was made, and so I don’t address it in my article.

Yesterday, I received a call from the Law Society of British Columbia. It appears that a lawyer informed the Law Society about the video ad that I posted on this blog on April Fools’ day.

The Law Society’s position is that the video is a marketing material whose contents are contrary to the best interests of the public.

I decided to take the video down, even though I disagree with the Law Society’s conclusions.

First of all, there is no such thing as “best interests of the public”, because no such entity as “the public” exists. Each member of the public has his or her own interests. No person or organization can claim to represent the interests of a non-existing entity.

Secondly, in fact, I do believe that the contents of my video were beneficial for the interests of those who were choosing to watch it, because it allowed them to decide whether or not they wanted to be represented by someone who does not necessarily look or act like the stereotypical lawyer.

As I stated earlier, I decided to take the video down, since a fight the Law Society would distract me from the objective of building my firm and helping my clients Protect their Ideas and Cover their Assets™

Now the video is private and only available to my friends.

Today I am extremely excited to announce the arrival of a new service, IP Strategy Review.

Most business owners with great ideas that need to be protected try to control their legal bills by not going to see a lawyer until they need to be saved. Some try to proactively limit the scope of lawyers’ involvement by googling something and coming to see the lawyer with a very specific (and often unhelpful) request.

No business can make strategic decisions about protection of its most valuable assets, unless it understands what these assets are and how they can be protected. With IP Strategy Review, I provide to you, at a fully predictable flat rate, a customized strategic solution outlining which areas of IP can help protect your ideas and intellectual property and which legal steps can be taken to achieve that protection.

IP Strategy Review provides a true benefit at a predictable cost, without forcing the client to pay for unnecessary services. It is a consultation during which we will discuss your business and determine which strategies would make sense from the legal, business, PR and economic points of view.

This service develops upon my two policies: I never sell my clients unnecessary services and I always prefer to sell value to my clients, not my time.

It comes in three packages. Please visit the IP Strategy Review Page for more details.

As of today, I am not just a lawyer but also proudly a registered trademark agent.

After a few months of preparation and many more months of waiting for the results of examination, this is finally confirmed – I can represent clients in their dealings with the trademarks office.

Will be announcing the pricing structure soon.