Amendment Made to the Name of an Applicant Considered by the Trade-Marks Opposition Board
1
AMENDMENTMADETOTHENAMEOFANAPPLICANTCONSIDEREDBYTHE
TRADE-MARKSOPPOSITIONBOARD
By
CatherineBergeron*
LEGERROBICRICHARD
,L.L.P.
Lawyers,PatentandTrademarkAgents
CentreCDPCapital
1001Square-Victoria-BlocE–8thFloor
Montreal,Quebec,CanadaH2Z2B7
Tel.(514)9876242-Fax(514)8457874
info@robic.com-www.robic.ca
LendingTree,LLCv.TheAttorneyGeneralofCanada2006FC373(Federal
Court,J.EleanorR.Dawson)
1.FactualBackground
OnJanuary31,2001,theRespondentLendingTreeCorp.filedanapplication
requestingregistrationofthetrade-markLENDINGTREE.Saidtrade-mark
applicationwasbasedonanallegeduseofthemarkbyLendingTreeCorp.
inCanadaonorbeforeJanuary5,2001.However,LendingTreeCorp.did
notexistasofthatday;itwasnotincorporateduntilFebruary2,2001.
TheApplicantLendingTree,LLCfiledanoppositionagainstLendingTree
Corp.’sapplicationandalleged,amongstthegroundsofopposition,that,
contrarytosubsection30(b)oftheTrade-marksAct,LendingTreeCorp.had
not,andcouldnothave,usedthetrade-markinassociationwiththeservices
statedintheapplicationasoftheallegeddateoffirstuse.LendingTree
Corp.subsequentlyfiledarequestwiththeRegistrar,supportedbyan
affidavit,thatthesubjectapplicationbeamendedtocorrectthe
identificationofapplicantbyreplacing“LendingTreeCorp.”with“Alex
HaditaghidoingbusinessasLendingTreeCorp.”
TheTrade-marksOppositionBoard(“theBoard”)issuedanotice,onbehalfof
theRegistrar,toLendingTreeCorp.statingthattherequestedamendment
hadbeenacceptedandthatiftheopponentconsideredthatan
amendmenttotheStatementofoppositionwasrequired,leaveshouldbe
requestedpursuanttoRule40oftheTrade-marksRegulations.Instead,
©CIPS,2006.*Lawyer,CatherineBergeronisamemberofLEGERROBICRICHARD,L.L.P.,amultidisciplinary
firmoflawyers,andpatentandtrademarkagents.Publication293.034
2
LendingTree,LLCbroughtbeforetheFederalCourtanapplicationforjudicial
reviewseekinganorderquashingthedecisionoftheRegistrar.
2.DecisionoftheFederalCourt
ThemainissueattheheartofthedisputewaswhethertheRegistrarerredby
amendingtheapplicationinamannerthatchangedtheidentityofthe
applicantasprohibitedbysubsection31(a)andsections30,31and32ofthe
Trade-marksRegulations.Theapplicationthusturnedonwhethertheissueof
theproprietyofamendmentoftheapplicationisamatterthatcanberaised
andconsideredintheoppositionproceedings.
TheCourtreviewedjurisprudenceestablishingthattheBoardhasinthe
courseofoppositionproceedingsconsideredtheproprietyofamendments
madetothenameofanapplicant(MatsushitaElectricv.LibraImporting
(1986),8C.P.R.(3d)512;BeautyCreationsLtd.v.Eugene-Gallia(1992),45
C.P.R.(3d)278;MirabelFisheriesLtd.v.HydroSerreInc.(1994),55C.P.R.(3d)
567.)
Therefore,theCourtconcludedasfollows(atparagraphs19and20):
MyconclusionthattheBoardmayconsidertheproprietyofamendments
madetothenameofanapplicant,andwhethersuchanamendment
changedtheidentityoftheapplicant,isconsistentwiththefactthat,after
theamendmentwasallowed,LendingTreeU.S.wasinvitedtoseekleaveto
amenditsstatementofopposition.Thiswouldappeartocontemplatethat
LendingTreeU.S.wouldhaveanopportunityatthehearingofthe
oppositiontoarguethatthedecisiontoallowtheamendmentshouldnot
havebeenmadeandshouldnotbepermitted.(…)[S]eeingnospecial
circumstancethatwouldjustifygrantingreliefonthisapplication,Iam
satisfiedthatthisapplicationforjudicialreviewshouldbedismissed.
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