"Lapsed Tradmarks No. 1: Registrations in Canada 1872-1918" zine

Outside of celebrated logos made by people like Allan Flemming and Stuart Ash, Canadian design history is a mysterious and deep hole without a ladder or rope in sight. Thankfully, Lapsed Trademarks No. 1 explores that hole via the "accidental archive" that is the Canadian Trademarks Database online.

Of the literal millions of trademarks listed in that database, almost half are lapsed. Of those expired and cancelled listings, only one in four include visual references. I've spent many, many, hours digging through that subset of a subset, decided on a diverse set of favourites, and laid them (and their vital details) out as dense sheets of info. Rather than focusing on the "winners" of the Canadian market, I've intentionally focused on expired and cancelled trademarks—I've always been into underdogs, evolutionary dead-ends and the paths less travelled.

The works of Flemming and Ash have been measured and weighed. It's time to get informed about Minard's Nova Scotia brewed "King of Pain" Liniment and the three housecat-bearing trademarks registered in Canada in 1905.  

A staple-bound 5x8" zine with 40 pages, self-published in October of 2026. Note that this is a preorder—copies will be mailed upon reception of the finished zines in mid-October. Also, stand by for a second issue re: lapsed trademark registrations made in Canada between 1919 and 1938.