Confusion
July 13, 2023
US Supreme Court, No. 22-148: Parodies are generally immune from trademark infringement, but how much can you spoof? Jack Daniels hounded a dog toy company for making a copycat toy.
February 9, 2023
2023 FCA 4: The prefix "pro" did little to make Puma's "procat" mark distinctive over Caterpillar's CAT & Triangle Design.
April 11, 2022
New trademark registrations can be opposed by business owners who are concerned that the mark would cause confusion with their own registered trademark.
December 29, 2021
The Federal Court of Appeal held that the trial judge cannot intervene in a trademark opposition decision in the absence of any errors by the Board.
November 3, 2021
SCC #39576: Earlier this year, Travelway filed for leave to appeal with the Supreme Court of Canada over a trademark dispute with Wenger, the makers of Swiss Gear.
October 18, 2021
2021 FC 974: The Federal Court concluded that Puma’s use of procat would likely cause confusion with heavy equipment manufacturer Caterpillar Inc.’s ‘CAT’ trademark.
November 9, 2020
SCC 39144 : Supreme Court of Canada confirms an appellate ruling which found that, while official marks cannot eliminate rights under prior registrations.
September 3, 2020
With problematic brands like Aunt Jemima and Uncle Ben being dropped, how can brand owners prevent third parties from hijacking the discontinued marks?
April 9, 2019
2019 FCA 63 - FCA confirms long standing test for admission of new evidence in judicial review of TMOB decision.
February 28, 2019
2018 FC 971 – FC confirms that government marks are subject to infringement actions
December 6, 2018
2018 FC 951 – The FC reiterates that trademarks will not be registered if they are likely to confuse consumers.
September 11, 2018
2018 FC 853 - The Federal Court allowed Swatch AG’s appeal of a decision of the Registrar of Trade-marks allowing Hudson Watch Inc’s opposition to Swatch’s registration of its “iSWATCH” mark.
November 28, 2017
CIRA 344 - CIRA granted Virox its request to have the domain virox.ca transferred from Nameshield to itself, based on the domain being confusingly similar to Virox’s trademarks, Nameshield having registered the domain in bad faith and Nameshield having no legitimate interest in the domain.
November 21, 2017
2017 FCA 215 - The FCA found that trademarks owned by Travelway were confusingly similar to, and passing off on, trademarks owned by Wenger. The FCA's finding reversed a prior decision of the FC.