Sole director of restaurant business found personally liable for Trademark infringement after failing to comply with a delay in the judicial proceedings

2009-01-01

SOLEDIRECTOROFARESTAURANTBUSINESSFOUNDPERSONALLY
LIABLEFORTRADEMARKINFRINGEMENTAFTERFAILINGTOCOMPLY
WITHADELAYINTHEJUDICIALPROCEEDINGS
MARCELNAUD**
LEGERROBICRICHARD,LLP
LAWYERS,PATENTANDTRADEMARKAGENTS
InajudgmentrenderedonSeptember4,2009byJusticeRusselW.Zinnin
2045978OntarioInc.(ChapstheOriginal)v.ChapsAldershotInc.(Lezley’sChaps),
2009FC872(CanLII),theFederalCourtofCanadafoundthatChapsAldershotInc.
anditspresident,secretary,treasurerandsoledirectorKevinSaunders(the
“Defendants”),haveinfringedtheCanadiantrade-markCHAPS,registeredbythe
PlaintiffonMarch30,2005inassociationwithrestaurantservices.
ThePlaintiffoperatesarestaurantunderthename“ChapsTheOriginal”inthetown
ofBurlington,Ontarioandtheevidenceshowsthatitiswell-knownandhasbeen
activesince1981.
In2006,thedefendantChapsAldershotInc.purchasedarestaurantbusinessfroma
thirdparty,whichincludedthegoodwillandtradenameassociatedthereto.The
Defendantsthenstartedtocarryonthebusinessas“Lezley’sChaps”andthe
restaurantwasonthesamestreetas“ChapsTheOriginal”,withonly6kilometres
betweenthetwo.
ThePlaintifffiledamotionforsummaryjudgmenttoobtainapermanentinjunction
againsttheDefendantsrestrainingthemfrom(i)infringingthePlaintiff’sCHAPS
trade-mark;(ii)usingthetrade-markLezley’sCHAPSoranytrade-markortrade-
namethatcausesconfusionwiththePlaintiff’sCHAPStrade-markand(iii)directing
publicattentiontotheirservicesorbusinessinsuchawayastocauseorbelikelyto
causeconfusionwiththePlaintiff’sservicesorbusiness.
©CIPS,2009.*MarcelNaudisalwayerandtrade-markagentwithLEGERROBICRICHARD,LLP,a
multidisciplinaryfirmoflawyers,andpatentandtrade-markagents.PublishedinanOctoberissueof
WorldTrademarkReport.Publication293.061

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AccordingtoatimetableagreeduponbythepartiesandapprovedbytheCourt,the
PlaintiffhaduntilJuly27,2009toserveandfileitsMotionRecordandthe
DefendantsthenhaduntilAugust7,2009tofiletheirrespondingMotionRecord.
However,theDefendantsfailedtocomplywiththeirdelay:theyfiled,onAugust24,
2009,anaffidavitfromthedefendantKevinSaundersdatedAugust12,2009and
servedthenextday,withoutanaffidavittoexplain,underoath,whytheaffiantwas
unabletosweartheaffidavitpriortoAugust12,2009.
GiventhattheDefendantsdidnotrequestedpermissionfromtheCourttoallowthe
latefiling,erroneouslyassumingthatitwouldnotbeaproblem,theCourtrefused
thattheaffidavitbepartoftheevidenceonthemotion.However,eveniftheCourt
hadacceptedtheaffidavit,itwouldnothavebeensufficienttoshowthattherewasa
genuineissuerequiringatrial.
Inlightoftheevidencebeforeit,theCourt,allowingthemotionforsummary
judgment,concludedthattheDefendantswereliableoftrade-markinfringementand
passingoff,andthatthedefendantKevinSaunders“engagedinadeliberate,wilful
andknowingpursuitofacourseofconductthatheknewconstitutedinfringementof
thePlaintiff’strade-mark”.
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