Saturday, June 20, 2009

Corporate Knights v. Macleans (part II)

Toby Heaps, Editor-in-chief of Corporate Knights says Maclean's editor Ken Whyte's remarks (see yesterday's post) are inaccurate. "Corporate Knights has an active trademark application for "Best 50 Corporate Citizens in Canada" on file with the Canadian Intellectual Property Office. It is currently in a stage called examination. It has not been rejected by the Canadian Intellectual Property Office.

"In addition to registered trademarks, Canada also recognizes common-law trademarks, which arise through use. Corporate Knights has used "Best 50 Corporate Citizens in Canada" since 2002, and as such, has acquired trademark rights via Canada's common law.

"Common law trademarks are enforceable in Canada. Even if a company does not have a registered trademark, if it has a common law trademark that company has trademark rights."

Heaps says Maclean's cover used the wording 'Canada's 50 Best Corporate Citizens', which is the crux of the dispute.

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