Tim Bourne is a Principal in the Ottawa office. Tim’s practice covers trademark and industrial design strategy as well as advising clients on domain names and licensing.
Tim guides our clients through all stages of the trademark registration process. He has provided hundreds of clearance opinions to both local clients and multinational corporations. Before filing applications, Tim recommends filing strategies that account for trademark use, geographical scope, and cost effectiveness. Finally, while prosecuting trademark applications, Tim regularly overcomes both formal and substantive objections raised by the Trademarks Office in a manner that preserves our clients’ trademark rights. Tim has taught Advanced Trademarks Law at the University of Ottawa.
Tim also has developed significant expertise in the niche area of industrial designs. For years he acted as a liaison between members of the profession and the Industrial Design Office.
As a former Federal Court clerk, Tim regularly advocates on behalf of our clients before the Trademarks Opposition Board, in trademark cancellation proceedings and in domain name disputes. For all contentious matters, Tim actively explores opportunities to resolve disputes in a creative yet pragmatic manner that addresses our clients’ business goals. Tim’s experience resolving disputes influences the strategic advice that he provides to our clients while prosecuting trademark and industrial design applications.
Tim has a special interest in the enforcement of trademark rights in the domain name context and online. He adjudicates .ca domain name disputes under the Canadian Internet Registration Authority’s Dispute Resolution Procedure.
Qualifications
- Industry Involvement
- In the Media
Memberships
- Intellectual Property Institute of Canada — IPIC (Fellow)
- International Trademark Association — INTA
- American Intellectual Property Law Association — AIPLA
- Canada Law Book’s Canadian Patent Reporter — CPR — Editorial Board (Member)
Publications
- J.M. Fuhrer, and T.C. Bourne, “The Draft Intellectual Property Security Act Revisited” in H.P. Knopf, ed., Security Interests in Intellectual Property (Toronto: Thompson Canada Limited, 2002), c.5
- Bourne, Tim, “Electronic Filing Can Save You Both Time and Aggravation (An Ottawa IP Lawyer Looks at a New e-filing Initiative at the Federal Court)”, The Lawyers Weekly, February 10, 2006.