Yes. In Canada, trademark rights come from use, not from registration. A business that has built a reputation under a name or logo can stop others from trading on it, registered or not.
The harder questions are how much you have to prove and where the protection runs out.
The claim is called passing-off
The Supreme Court of Canada has set out three things a plaintiff must show (Ciba-Geigy Canada Ltd v Apotex Inc, [1992] 3 SCR 120; Kirkbi AG v Ritvik Holdings Inc, 2005 SCC 65):
Goodwill. The public associates the name, logo or get-up with your business.
Misrepresentation. The other side is presenting its goods or services in a way that deceives the public, or is likely to. It does not have to be deliberate.
Damage. You have suffered harm, or are likely to.
The Trademarks Act, RSC 1985, c T-13, contains a statutory version of the same claim in section 7(b). It allows the case to be brought in the Federal Court, as long as it rests on a valid trademark, registered or not.
What you have to prove
Goodwill is where unregistered claims are won or lost. A court will want evidence: sales figures, advertising spend, how long and how consistently the mark has been used, press coverage, and signs that customers recognize it.
Goodwill is also local. A reputation in Toronto does not automatically stop a business using a similar name in Vancouver. Your rights extend as far as your reputation does.
What registration adds
National scope. A registration gives the exclusive right to use the mark across Canada for the listed goods and services, wherever you have actually traded.
Easier proof. You rely on the registration instead of rebuilding your goodwill in evidence each time.
More claims. Infringement by a confusing mark, and depreciation of goodwill, are available only to registered owners.
Deterrence. Your mark appears when a competitor searches the register before launching.
Registration does not make use irrelevant. Since April 1, 2025, an owner who sues within three years of registration must show the mark was used in Canada during that period, or that special circumstances excuse the absence of use.
When someone else registers your mark
Prior use counts. An earlier user can oppose a later application, or ask the Federal Court to strike a registration on the ground that the registrant was not the person entitled to it.
In Masterpiece Inc v Alavida Lifestyles Inc, 2011 SCC 27, a company that had used its mark in one province succeeded in expunging a later registration. Because a registration covers the whole country, the Court asked whether the marks would be confusing if both were used in the same area.
There is a clock. Once a registration is five years old, it cannot be attacked on the basis of earlier use unless the registrant adopted the mark knowing about that use.
Practical steps
Keep dated evidence of use. First invoices, early packaging, archived web pages, advertising.
Use the mark consistently. Variations dilute the association you are trying to prove.
Search before you invest in a new name.
Weigh registration. The cost is modest next to the cost of proving goodwill in litigation.
Act promptly when a copycat appears. Delay weakens a request for an injunction and lets confusion harden into coexistence.
An unregistered mark is enforceable. It is also only as strong as the evidence behind it, so the time to assemble that evidence is before you need it.
This post is general information about Canadian law. It is not legal advice about your situation.
