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Saturday, February 6th, 2010
With the clock ticking towards the start of the Vancouver Olympic Winter 2010 Games next Friday, some athletes have already arrived in the City and moved into the Olympic Athletes’ Village. Amongst these are members of the Australian Olympic Team, who have already found themselves in some in hot water with the International Olympic Committee (“IOC’). According to a recent story, team members have hung a 50-metre flag, depicting a boxing kangaroo, on the side of one of the housing complexes in the Olympic Village.
The IOC had apparently ordered the flag removed as the boxing kangaroo image is a registered trademark of the Australian Olympic Committee. The IOC Rules control display of registered trademarks.
The Australian Olympic Team had suggested that they may not take the flag down without a fight, as the boxing kangaroo is apparently known as the national personification of Australia.
The IOC has now apparently agreed to let the Australian Olympic Team continue to fly the flag. In the future, the Australian Olympic Committee will need to register the flag with the IOC if the flag is to be used at Olympics.
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Trademark Statistics: Another Year in Review
Tuesday, March 17th, 2009
The Canadian Intellectual Property Office released its 2007-8 Annual Report a few weeks back. A few highlights:
- over 47,500 applications were filed in the twelve month period ending March 31, 2008, reflecting nearly a 5% increase over the previous year
- Canada remains the most common country of applicant origin, with over 20,000 applications filed; the US placed second, with over 15,400 applications, while applicants from Germany, the United Kingdom and France rounded out the top 5
- despite the addition of 24 new Examiners, turn-around times between filing and first exam increased by approximately 1.6 months per application, with the average turn-around time being 6.8 months
- the number of Statements of Opposition filed increased by 25%, reversing declines seen in the previous three years
- in contrast, the number of Section 45 (cancellation) notices issued fell to its lowest point in three years
- interestingly, there was a 41% increase in the total number of trademark assignments filed with the Office.
Further details can be found in the full report, available here.
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JAVACAFÉ: Clearly Descriptive in the French Language
Tuesday, February 24th, 2009
Following up on an earlier blog posting, we note that the Supreme Court of Canada has refused leave to appeal from the Federal Court of Appeal’s decision in Shell Canada Limited v. P.T. Sari Incofood Corporation.
The Court of Appeal earlier concluded that JAVACAFÉ when sounded as two words was clearly descriptive, in French, of the claimed wares, namely, coffee products.
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