Descriptive in English or French

Canadian trademark legislation precludes the registration of marks that are either clearly descriptive or deceptively misdescriptive in the English or French language of:

• the character or quality of the goods or services in association with which the mark is used or proposed to be used;
• the conditions of their production;
• the persons employed in their production; or
• their place of origin.

The prohibition against descriptive and misdescriptive words applies only to words that have a meaning in the English or French languages. Trademarks that are clearly descriptive or deceptively misdescriptive in languages other than English or French are not prohibited. For instance, while the word GOLDEN is not registrable for beer because "golden" clearly describes one of the characteristics or qualities of beer, the word GOUDKLEURIG (Dutch for "golden") has no meaning in the English or French languages and is potentially registrable for beer.