The Presence of French on Public Signage in Quebec

2016-06-07

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THEPRESENCEOFFRENCHONPUBLICSIGNAGEINQUEBEC

CATHERINEBERGERON*
ROBIC,
LLP
L
AWYERS,PATENTANDTRADE-MARKAGENTS

Inthespringof2015,theCourtofAppealofQuebecconfirmedthattheCharterof
theFrenchLanguageandtheRegulationrespectingthelanguageofcommerceand
businessallowtodisplaypublicly,onsigns,postersandcommercialadvertising,
trade-marksinalanguageotherthanFrench,includingtrade-marksdisplayed
outsideacommercialbuilding.
Atthetime,theQuebecgovernmentimmediatelypromisedtoadoptcertain
amendmentstotheRegulationtoensureasufficientpresenceofFrenchonpublic
signs.Oneyearlater,adraftRegulationmodifyingtheRegulationrespectingthe
languageofcommerceandbusiness(“DraftRegulation”)waspublished,essentially
aimingtoensurethepredominanceoftheFrenchlanguageonexteriorsignage
ratherthanfrancizingtrade-marks.
TheproposedamendmentstotheRegulationareinsertedaftertheprovisions
allowingforpublicsignsandcommercialadvertisinginalanguageotherthan
French,asitisthecasefortrade-marksrecognizedundertheTrade-marksAct.
Thesenewprovisionswillthereforerequirethattheuseofnon-Frenchtrade-marks,
displayedoutsideabuilding,mustrespectasufficientpresenceofFrench,through
theuseof(Section25.1oftheDraftRegulation):
1.agenerictermoradescriptionoftheproductsorservices
concerned;
2.aslogan;or
3.anyothertermorindication,favoringthedisplayofinformation
pertainingtotheproductsorservicestothebenefitofconsumers.

TheDraftRegulationaimstobroadlycoveralltrade-marksdisplayedoutsidea
building,whetherthisbuildinghasanexteriorstorefrontorislocatedwithinanother
building,suchasashoppingmall,andwhetherthesignagerelatedtothisbuildingor
premisesappears,interalia,ontheroofofthebuilding,onaprojectingor
perpendicularsign,oronamarkerpostorotherindependentstructure.Thereare
exceptionsinthecaseofcertaintypesofsignage,includinginstanceswhereatrade-
markappearsinmorethanoneplace.Itisalsoworthnotingthattemporaryor

©CIPS,2016.*FromROBIC,LLP,amultidisciplinaryfirmofLawyers,andPatentandTrade-markAgents.Published
intheSpring2016(Vol.19,no.3)Newsletterofthefirm.Publication068.203E.

2
seasonalinstallationsdonotneedtocomplywiththenewrequirements.(Section
25.2oftheDraftRegulation)
Asidefromprovidingwhereandtowhomtheserequirementsapply,thelegislator’s
mainchallengewasundoubtedlytofindcleartermssettingtheparametersforthe
obviouslysubjectivenatureofthe”attributes”ofsuchpublicdisplaycomplyingwith
theobjectiveofthesufficientpresenceofFrench.Inthisregard,theDraftRegulation
statesthatthepublicsignmust(Section25.3oftheDraftRegulation):
1.bepermanentlyvisible,similartothatofthetrade-markdisplayed;and
2.belegibleinthesamevisualfieldasthatofthenon-Frenchtrade-mark
onsignsorposters.
TheiteminFrench,morespecificallyagenericterm,adescriptionoraslogan,must
thereforebevisibleandlegibleinasimilarmannertothatofthetrade-mark.This
requiresthattheinformationinFrench,inrelationtothenon-Frenchtrade-mark,
mustbedesigned,litandlocatedinsuchawaythatbothcomponentscanbeeasily
readatthesametime,whetherthetrade-markandtheinformationinFrenchare
displayedinthesamelocationornot.Forexample,thegenericterm“Restaurant
Mexicain”(Mexicanrestaurant)mightbedisplayedclosetoarestaurant’sSpanish
nameonitsexteriorsign,or,alternatively,detailsofthemenucouldappearinclear
Frenchelsewhereonthefrontoftherestaurant,providedthatthesignandmenuare
exposedinthesamevisualfieldoftheconsumers.

ExamplesofFrenchsignagerequirementshavebeenpublishedontheMinistryof
CultureandCommunicationswebsite(inFrenchonly)
.
TheDraftRegulationprovidesmanyotherclarificationsandexceptionsinorderto
betterframethenewrequirementsandfosteramoreaccessibleapplicationofthe
provisionswithrespecttobothfreedomofcommerceandthepresenceoftheFrench
languageonpublicsignsinQuebec.Onlytimewilltellwhetherthesenewprovisions
willachievethedesiredeffectandhowtheywillbeappliedbybusinesses.According
totheGovernment,theDraftRegulationtargetsonlyalimitednumberofbusinesses,
severalhavingalreadychosentoaddFrenchindicationstotheirsignage.Theothers
willhavethreeyears,aftertheentryintoforceoftheDraftRegulation,tocomply.

Finally,asacorollaryofthisDraftRegulation,theGovernmentalsoproposedan
amendmenttotheRegulationdefiningthescopeoftheexpression“markedly
predominant”forthepurposesoftheCharteroftheFrenchlanguageinorderto
endorsethecurrentscopeoftheexceptionsprovidedbytheRegulationandtomake
certainclarificationswithrespecttothevisualimpactofpublicsigns.

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