Jewellers Marks and Trademarks

Trademarks for jewellery have a special place in Canadian law. If you have a trademark for your jewellery, you’ll have to comply with not only the Trade-marks Act but also the Precious Metals Marking Act.

Summary of the Precious Metals Marking Act

You don’t have to apply a quality mark to an article made from a precious metal, but if you do, it must either be a registered trademark or one you’ve applied for, unless it’s a hallmark from the U.K. or a quality mark from another country.

The Precious Metals Marking Act and Regulations

According to the Precious Metals Marking Act, you don’t have it’s not necessary to mark or advertise a precious metal article for quality. Some examples of marking are “sterling silver” or “14K” for gold. However, if you do mark it, then the mark or advertisement must be factual and must be done according to the Act and its Regulstions. The Act says that the quality mark used must meet one of these criteria:
  • It must also bear a trade-mark that has either been applied for or registered with the Registrar of Trade-marks in Canada;
  • If a precious metal article is hallmarked in accordance with the laws of the United Kingdom, it does not require a trade-mark, and a quality mark may be applied as per the Regulations; or
  • If a precious metal article has a foreign government mark applied to it according to the laws of the foreign country, which truly and correctly indicates the quality of the precious metal, it does not require a trade-mark and may have a quality mark applied to it as per the Regulations.

Definitions from the Act

  • “Mark” includes any mark, sign, device, imprint, stamp, brand, label, ticket, letter, word or figure.
  • “Quality mark” means a mark indicating or purporting to indicate the quality, quantity, fineness, weight, thickness, proportion or kind of precious metal in an article.
  • “Precious metal” means gold, palladium, platinum and silver and an alloy of any of those metals and any other metal and an alloy thereof that is designated by the Regulations as a precious metal for the purposes of this Act.
  • “Precious metal article” means an article wholly or partly, or purporting to be wholly or partly, composed of a precious metal and includes a plated article, and the word “article” when used in association with the name of a precious metal has a corresponding meaning

Choosing a Good Trademark

The strongest kind of mark is a made-up word such as Xerox or Kodak. The next best is a name that’s a real word that has nothing to do with the goods or services, such as Apple for computers or Blackberry for personal computing devices. These ‘strong’ marks will get wider legal protection. Design marks (logos) can often make ‘stronger’ trademarks because a design is more “distinctive”. The downside is that you have to use the mark exactly as registered to have the full benefit of the registration. Also, the words themselves are not really protected. They’re only protected when they’re used as part of the mark as registered. There is no fool-proof method for choosing a strong trademark. One of the methods our clients recommend is to have a brainstorming session. This tends to work best in a group, so find a group of friends or colleagues and set aside an hour or so for a brainstorming session. Make a list of all suggestions, no matter how wild, even if you don’t like most of them. Return to the list in a few days, and try to identify some strong candidates to research further.

Why Jewellers Marks are More Complicated

Jewellers marks often consist of the jeweller’s signature or their initials with some special presentation such as combining the initials to form a design (think of the double ‘B’ design for Birks, for example). In either case, the mark would be considered a design. Design marks are special because searching is more complicated than it is for words alone. In the case of a signature or initials with a design, we have to do two searches: one for the word or initials and another for the design itself. If your mark also includes an actual design (such as the Birks lion), then this would mean a third, separate search. This means additional costs up front.

Some Examples of Jewellers Marks

A picture’s worth a thousand words, so here’s a link to the Online Encyclopedia of Silver Marks, Hallmarks & Makers’ Marks. There’s a navigation link to “Canadian Silver Marks” tucked under the menu item for “American Marks”.