Additional wording to registered trade-mark not a substantial deviation, Federal Court Rules

ADDITIONALWORDINGTOREGISTEREDTRADE-MARKNOTAS
UBSTANTIAL
DEVIATION,FEDERALCOURTRULES

STELLASYRIANOS*
LEGERROBICRICHARD,LLP
L
AWYERS,PATENT&TRADEMARKAGENTS

TheFederalCourtofCanadarecentlyallowedanappealfromadecisionrenderedby
aHearingOfficeroftheTrade-marksOppositionBoardundersection45ofthe
Trade-marksAct,R.S.C.1985,c.T-13(hereafter:the”Act”),maintainingthe
registrationforthetrade-markING.LOROPIANA&C.&Designsolelyforthewares
“fabrics”,afterconcludingthataddedwordingonthelabelswouldnotbeperceivedas
formingpartofthetrade-markatissue(LoroPianaS.P.A.v.CanadianCouncilof
ProfessionalEngineers(CCPE),2009FC1095(Near,J.,October27
th,2009).

BackgroundInformation
Section45ofCanada’sTrade-marksActisthe”useitorloseit”provisionallowing
theRegistrar,viaadministrativeproceedings,toexpungetrade-markregistrationsfor
marksnotinuseinCanada.Followingarequestmadebyanythirdpartyandupon
paymentoftheprescribedfee,theRegistrargivesNoticetotheregisteredOwnerof
atrade-marktoproveuseofitsregisteredtrade-markinCanadawithrespecttoeach
ofthewaresorservicesspecifiedintheregistration,atanytimeduringthethreeyear
periodimmediatelyprecedingthedateoftheNotice.Failingtoestablishuse(or
justifyitsnon-useduetospecialcircumstances)mayleadtoexpungementofthe
mark.
Theadministrativecancellationproceedings
OnJanuary2,2007,attherequestoftheCanadianCouncilofProfessional
Engineers(CCPE),theRegistrarofTrade-marksforwardedaNoticetoIng.Loro
Piana&C.S.P.A.,thethenregisteredOwneroftheING.LOROPIANA&C.&
DESIGNtrade-mark,tofurnishevidenceitsmarkwasusedinCanadabetween
January2,2004andJanuary2,2007,inassociationwith“yarnsandtreads;fabrics;

©CIPS,2009.*Lawyer,StellaSyrianosisamemberofLEGERROBICRICHARD,L.L.P.,amultidisciplinaryfirmof
lawyers,andpatentandtrademarkagents.PublishedintheNovember2009issueoftheWorld
IntellectualPropertyReport.Publication142.230

2
clothing,namelyjackets,coats,skirts,trousers,cloaks,mantles,overcoatsand
knittedvests,scarves,mufflers,shawlsandgloves”(theRegisteredWares).

AchangeofnamefromIng.LoroPiana&C.S.P.A.toLoroPianaS.P.A.was
recordedbytheTrade-marksOfficeonJuly13
th,2007.Inresponsetothesection45
Notice,LoroPianaS.P.A.filedtheaffidavitofitsCFOalongwithaccompanying
exhibits.Initsevidence,LoroPianaS.P.A.statedthatitspecialisedinthe
manufactureandsaleofhighqualityfabricsandalsodesignedandproducedalineof
ready-to-wearandtailormadeclothingformen,womenandchildren.

Aspartofitsevidence,LoroPianaS.P.A.filedarepresentativesampleshowingthe
trade-markassewnintothecompany’swaresandahangtagshowingthetrade-
markaffixedthereon,saidtagbeingalsoattachedtothewares.Neitherparty
submittedwrittenargumentsnorrequestedanOralHearing.Adecisionwasrendered
onDecember11
th,2008.

TheHearingOfficerruledthattheuseofthedisputedmarkhadbeenshownonlyfor
“fabrics”andnottheremainingwareslistedintheregistration.Therewasno
evidenceofspecialcircumstancesexcusingtheabsenceofusewiththeseremaining
wares.
Variedformsofaregisteredtrade-mark
Theregisteredtrade-markunderattackisreproducedasfollows:

Asidefromthequestionofusewithwares,anothermatteraroseinthecourseofthe
Registrar’sdecision,onewhichdealtwiththethemeofvarieduseofaregistered
marksinceadditionalwordingappearedonthelabelsandexhibitsfiledasevidence.
Amongsuchelementswerethewords“FABRICMADEINITALY”
1.TheRegistrar
heldthattheseelementswouldnotbeperceivedasformingpartoftheattackedmark
perseanddeterminedthattheRegisteredWaresshouldbeamendedtodeleteall
waresotherthan“fabrics”.
ItisworthmentioningthatunderCanadiantrade-marklaw,thegoldenruleisthata
trade-markmustbeusedasregistered,otherwiseitremainsvulnerablesuchasin

1Thereporteddecisiondoesnotcontainareproductionofthemarkasitwasused,makingonlyaverbal
passingreferencetotheappearanceofadditionalmaterialsuchas“FABRICMADEINITALY”onlabels
andhangtags.Wethereforehavenoindicationastowhatotheradditionalmaterialappearednorits
positioninginthelabelsandhangtagsproducedasevidencebytheowneroftheregisteredtrade-mark.

3
thecaseofadministrativecancellationproceedingsinitiatedbythirdparties.
However,despitethisgoldenrule,commercialrealitiesoftendictatethatowners
inevitablyusetheirregisteredtrade-marksinavariedformandasaresult,abodyof
caselawhasbeencreatedwhichestablishesguidingprinciples.

AtesthasbeenelaboratedbyCanadiancaselawinordertodeterminewhetheruse
ofatrade-markinamannerdifferentfromitsregisteredformconstitutesproperuse
oftheregisteredtrade-mark.Inessence,thedifferencesbetweenthetwotrade-
marksinquestionmustbeminimalandsounimportantthatanunawarepurchaser
wouldinfer,despitethesedifferences,thegoodsshareacommonorigin.
Jurisprudencethereforeallowsacertainflexibilitywithregardstovariedusesof
marks.
TheFederalCourtruling
InmaintainingtheING.LOROPIANA&C.&DESIGNtrade-markontheregisterand
ontheparticularissueofdeviationsfromtheregisteredformofamark,theCourt
agreedwiththeHearingOfficer’sdecisionregardingtheimpactofthepresenceof
additionalmaterial.TheCourtruledthedeviationswerenotsubstantialandtherefore
acceptablebasedonthefollowingfactors:
1.thetrade-markstoodoutfromtheadditionalmaterial
2.theadditionalwordswouldnotbeperceivedasformingpartofthe
trade-markperse
3.theadditionalwordswereinproportionatelysmallerfonts
4.theadditionalwordswereindifferentstylesofletters.

BasedonadditionalevidencebeforetheFederalCourtregardinguseforwaresother
than“fabrics”andingrantingtheappeal,theCourtalsoheldthattheregistration
shouldbemaintainedforallofthewareslistedthereinexceptfor“threads”,forwhich
nouseorreasonsforabsenceofusewereestablished.

Conclusion
Thiscaseservesasanotherreminderthatcautiousvariationscanbemadewithout
adverseconsequencessolongasthesamedominantfeaturesofthemarkare
maintainedandthedifferencesarenotsounimportantasnottomisleadanunaware
purchaser.However,whiletheestablishedprinciplesincasesofvarieduseare
essentiallyclear,theirapplication,asroutinelydemonstratedinjurisprudence,
confirmsthereisneverthelessariskoflosingthebenefitsofaregistration.Toavoid
playingwithfire,trade-marksownersarebestadvisedtosteerclearfromhavingto
dousetheflamesbyfilingfreshapplicationsfordeviationstotheirregisteredmarks.

4

5

ROBIC,ungrouped’avocatsetd’agentsdebrevetsetdemarquesdecommercevouédepuis1892à
laprotectionetàlavalorisationdelapropriétéintellectuelledanstouslesdomaines:brevets,dessins
industrielsetmodèlesutilitaires;marquesdecommerce,marquesdecertificationetappellations
d’origine;droitsd’auteur,propriétélittéraireetartistique,droitsvoisinsetdel’artisteinterprète;
informatique,logicielsetcircuitsintégrés;biotechnologies,pharmaceutiquesetobtentionsvégétales;
secretsdecommerce,know-howetconcurrence;licences,franchisesettransfertsdetechnologies;
commerceélectronique,distributionetdroitdesaffaires;marquage,publicitéetétiquetage;poursuite,
litigeetarbitrage;vérificationdiligenteetaudit;etce,tantauCanadaqu’ailleursdanslemonde.
ROBIC,agroupoflawyersandofpatentandtrademarkagentsdedicatedsince1892totheprotection
andthevalorizationofallfieldsofintellectualproperty:patents,industrialdesignsandutilitypatents;
trademarks,certificationmarksandindicationsoforigin;copyrightandentertainmentlaw,artistsand
performers,neighbouringrights;computer,softwareandintegratedcircuits;biotechnologies,
pharmaceuticalsandplantbreeders;tradesecrets,know-how,competitionandanti-trust;licensing,
franchisingandtechnologytransfers;e-commerce,distributionandbusinesslaw;marketing,publicity
andlabelling;prosecutionlitigationandarbitration;duediligence;inCanadaandthroughouttheworld.

COPYRIGHTER
IDEASLIVEHERE
ILATOUTDEMÊMEFALLUL’INVENTER!
LAMAÎTRISEDESINTANGIBLES
LEGERROBICRICHARD
NOSFENÊTRESGRANDESOUVERTESSURLEMONDEDESAFFAIRES
PATENTER
R
ROBIC
ROBIC+DROIT+AFFAIRES+SCIENCES+ARTS
ROBIC++++
ROBIC+LAW+BUSINESS+SCIENCE+ART
THETRADEMARKERGROUP
TRADEMARKER
VOSIDÉESÀLAPORTÉEDUMONDE,DESAFFAIRESÀLAGRANDEURDELAPLANÈTE
YOURBUSINESSISTHEWORLDOFIDEAS;OURBUSINESSBRINGSYOURIDEASTOTHE
WORLD