Upon submitting the application, it will be examined on various grounds of the Trade Marks Act / Regulations. The two most common grounds for an application to be refused is that the trademark is identical and/or confusingly similar to a prior trademark or it is not distinctive/meet the registrability condition set in the Act. The examination process generally takes approximately 12 months to complete. Upon which the examiner will make a decision whether to grant preliminary approval or reject the application.