As of late March 2012, the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) is accepting sound-based trademark applications. This policy change follows a 20 year battle with CIPO and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) Studios to trademark its famous lion’s roar. In the past, CIPO took the position that sounds could not be trademarked, while other jurisdictions around the world

Vancouver-based Pirate Joe’s and its owner, Michael Hallat, won a trademark infringement battle against specialty U.S. grocery giant Trader Joe’s, on October 2, 2013. Judge Marsha Pechman of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington dismissed the case on jurisdictional grounds. Trader Joe’s operates a chain of over 400 stores in 30

The Federal Court recently found the wide-spread fame of the COHIBA trade-marks for cigars and cigarillos was sufficient to reject an application to register the trade-mark LAZARO COHIBA for rum. Tequila Cuervo (“Cuervo”) filed a trade-mark application in February of 1996, for the mark LAZARO COHIBA, in association with “alcoholic beverages, namely rum“, on the

On May 8, 2014, the Office Québécois de la Langue Française (OQLF) appealed the Superior Court’s decision allowing English-only trade-marks on store signs in Quebec. On April 9, 2014, the Quebec Superior Court issued its decision allowing English-only trade-marks on store signs in Quebec. This decision comes after years of debate between major retailers against