Emily Brooks

One application to CIPO, grouped by Nice class, protects your mark in Canada for 10 years. This guide, checked against the Trademarks Act and Regulations current to September 2026, gives CIPO’s official timelines (14 months to a first action, 34.5 months on average to registration), every step with its section, whether a foreign owner needs an agent or a Canadian address, the Madrid route, and how a Canadian registration opens a .ca domain.

A recording of your voice can be registered as a sound mark in the EU and the US, but it protects a sound used as a brand for specific goods and services, not your voice as such. We read Giorgia Meloni’s EU application in the EUIPO register, compare how sound marks are filed and examined in the EU and the US, and set out what a voice trademark does not stop and which other laws cover AI voice clones.

One online application to IPOS protects your mark in Singapore for 10 years from the filing date. This guide, checked against the Trade Marks Act 1998, the Trade Marks Rules and IPOS circulars up to September 2026, explains the Singapore address for service every applicant needs, how IPOS searches earlier marks for you, every deadline from filing to renewal with its rule, the return of SG Trade Marks Fast, the Nice 2027 change and the 12-month rescue window after expiry.

On 8 October 2026 Amazon Technologies registered 18 domain names built on “Alexa Tablet”, the first five about nine minutes before Amazon announced the product line. Thirteen days later the USPTO, TMview and WIPO’s Global Brand Database showed no “ALEXA TABLET” application. A minute-by-minute timeline from public RDAP records, what the trademark record does and does not tell you, and the launch checklist a smaller business can copy.

One application to the IPOI protects your mark in the Republic of Ireland; one to the EUIPO covers all 27 EU countries. This guide, checked against the Trade Marks Act 1996, the Trade Marks Rules and the IPOI 2025 Annual Report, explains which route to choose, the EEA address for service every applicant needs, how the IPOI searches earlier marks for you, every deadline from filing to renewal, and what Brexit means for Northern Ireland.

Under auDA's current rules, a foreign business with no ABN, ACN or Australian address can hold a .com.au, .net.au or .au domain by relying on an Australian trademark, and a pending application already counts. This guide, checked against the July 2026 Licensing Rules, IP Australia and the Trade Marks Act 1995, explains the exact-match rule with auDA's examples, when an application starts to count, what a foreign applicant needs to file, what happens to the domain if the trademark lapses, and what auDA's 2026 rules review changes.

One application to IMPI per class protects your mark in Mexico for 10 years from the grant. This guide, checked against the LFPPI as amended on 3 April 2026 and its new Regulations, explains every legal deadline with its article, what the 2026 reform changed, why IMPI checks earlier marks for you, what foreign applicants need, and the year-3 declaration of use that cancels marks automatically.

ICANN published the 1,615 applications of its 2026 new gTLD round on 7 October. This guide, checked against the Applicant Guidebook and WIPO's rules, shows how to search them for your trademark, who can file a Legal Rights Objection between 17 November 2026 and 16 March 2027, the nine factors the panel weighs, how the 2012 objections ended (4 of 69 upheld) and the 17 strings where a brand already competes with other applicants.

South Africa is not in the Madrid Protocol, so a trademark there means a national CIPC filing, one application per class. This guide, checked against the Trade Marks Act 194 of 1993 and its Regulations, explains what foreign applicants need, how CIPC searches earlier marks itself, every deadline from filing to renewal, the 5-year use rule and why misusing the ® symbol is an offence.

China's revised Trademark Law takes effect on January 1, 2027. This guide, checked against the CNIPA's official texts, compares the 2019 and 2026 laws article by article, explains the CNIPA's draft transition rules of September 28, 2026 (filing before January 1 does not lock in the old law), and lists what foreign brand owners should do now: file early, file for what they use, keep evidence of use and watch for 2-month oppositions.