Patents and trademarks as well as copyrights, industrial designs, and integrated circuit topographies are registered through the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO), a Special Operating Agency associated with Industry Canada that is responsible for the administration and processing of the greater part of intellectual property Canada.

CIPO's areas of activity include:

• Patents cover new inventions (process, machine, manufacture, composition of matter), or any new and useful improvement of an existing invention;
• Trade-marks are words, symbols or designs (or a combination of these), used to distinguish the wares or services of one person or organization from those of others in the marketplace;
• Copyrights provide protection for artistic, dramatic, musical or literary works (including computer programs), and three other subject-matter known as: performance, sound recording and communication signal;
• Industrial designs are the visual features of shape, configuration, pattern or ornament (or any combination of these features), applied to a finished article of manufacture;
• Integrated circuit topographies refer to the three-dimensional configurations of electronic circuits embodied in integrated circuit products or layout designs.