Comments on: More Olympic Trade-mark Issues http://www.trademarkblog.ca/more-olympic-trade-mark-issues/ Commentary on Canadian Trademarks & Technology Law Fri, 17 Sep 2010 05:58:18 -0700 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.3 By: Larry Munn http://www.trademarkblog.ca/more-olympic-trade-mark-issues/comment-page-1/#comment-1422 Larry Munn Sat, 20 Jan 2007 00:15:45 +0000 http://www.trademarkblog.ca/more-olympic-trade-mark-issues/#comment-1422 Thank you Peter for your comments. Whenever there is active trademark or brand development by an organization it may be difficult to keep out of the way. The added difficulty with an organization such as VANOC is their right to use official marks, which, unlike "ordinary" trademarks, cannot be opposed when they are advertised in the Trade-marks Journal (although you can challenge them by way of judicial review). The earlier comment regarding new developments, was only intended to reflect the fact that large portfolios of marks inevitably generate disputes, some of which may require legal decisions. One of the leading Canadian decisions regarding official marks arose our of a dispue with the Canadian Olympic Association (Canadian Olympic Assn. v. Konica Canada Inc. (1992), 39 C.P.R. (3d) 400 (F.C.A.)). Thank you Peter for your comments. Whenever there is active trademark or brand development by an organization it may be difficult to keep out of the way. The added difficulty with an organization such as VANOC is their right to use official marks, which, unlike “ordinary” trademarks, cannot be opposed when they are advertised in the Trade-marks Journal (although you can challenge them by way of judicial review).

The earlier comment regarding new developments, was only intended to reflect the fact that large portfolios of marks inevitably generate disputes, some of which may require legal decisions. One of the leading Canadian decisions regarding official marks arose our of a dispue with the Canadian Olympic Association (Canadian Olympic Assn. v. Konica Canada Inc. (1992), 39 C.P.R. (3d) 400 (F.C.A.)).

]]> By: Morgan:News:2010 (Peter Morgan) http://www.trademarkblog.ca/more-olympic-trade-mark-issues/comment-page-1/#comment-1420 Morgan:News:2010 (Peter Morgan) Fri, 19 Jan 2007 23:36:02 +0000 http://www.trademarkblog.ca/more-olympic-trade-mark-issues/#comment-1420 Hi, Larry... Actually the 2010 list to which you refer was as of April 2006, and the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC) has been actively adding another 23 marks since that date. As part of our business news service, Morgan:News:2010, we track that aspect of the organization's activities as well. What's interesting is the difficulty businesses have in keeping out of the way of such an active trademark development. VANOC, for instance, doesn't list anywhere the full set of marks it currently owns (or is about to own). How is a company -- particularly your average T-shirt silkscreener -- to know whether a slogan they thought they developed is going to be OK or bring down VANOC's wrath unless it can figure out how to use the CIPO database? The other interesting development is that VANOC deliberately prevented anybody from seeing its inushuk-style logo and its Paralympic Games logo so it could gain marketing muscle from launching them during, in the main emblem's case, a one-hour national TV show. It did not file or advertise them via CIPO, as far as we've been able to determine, in any public way before the launches. Another emblem launch, this time of the aboriginal logo during the VANOC Aboriginal Summit conference in Vancouver February 2, is expected, and BC Premier Gordon Campbell is expected to do the honours. I'm intrigued by a comment you made in your blog: " A portfolio of that size will likely generate some interesting new developments in trademark law as we draw closer to the 2010 Games." In what sense? Hopefully, the URL below will prompt CIPO's database to list the additional 23 marks filed by VANOC since last April: . If not, here's the database query that will get you the list: Search for: Vancouver Organizing Committee in the Current Owner Name within: All with a status of: All that were: Filed from 4 April 2006 to 16 January 2007 /Peter Morgan, Editor, Morgan:News:2010, a news service that tracks the business side of the 2010 Winter Olympics. Hi, Larry…

Actually the 2010 list to which you refer was as of April 2006, and the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC) has been actively adding another 23 marks since that date. As part of our business news service, Morgan:News:2010, we track that aspect of the organization’s activities as well.

What’s interesting is the difficulty businesses have in keeping out of the way of such an active trademark development. VANOC, for instance, doesn’t list anywhere the full set of marks it currently owns (or is about to own). How is a company — particularly your average T-shirt silkscreener — to know whether a slogan they thought they developed is going to be OK or bring down VANOC’s wrath unless it can figure out how to use the CIPO database?

The other interesting development is that VANOC deliberately prevented anybody from seeing its inushuk-style logo and its Paralympic Games logo so it could gain marketing muscle from launching them during, in the main emblem’s case, a one-hour national TV show. It did not file or advertise them via CIPO, as far as we’ve been able to determine, in any public way before the launches.

Another emblem launch, this time of the aboriginal logo during the VANOC Aboriginal Summit conference in Vancouver February 2, is expected, and BC Premier Gordon Campbell is expected to do the honours.

I’m intrigued by a comment you made in your blog: ” A portfolio of that size will likely generate some interesting new developments in trademark law as we draw closer to the 2010 Games.” In what sense?

Hopefully, the URL below will prompt CIPO’s database to list the additional 23 marks filed by VANOC since last April: . If not, here’s the database query that will get you the list:

Search for: Vancouver Organizing Committee in the Current Owner Name
within: All
with a status of: All
that were: Filed from 4 April 2006 to 16 January 2007

/Peter Morgan, Editor, Morgan:News:2010, a news service that tracks the business side of the 2010 Winter Olympics.

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