The Public Display of a Trade-mark in English Only is Permitted in Quebec

2014-05-13

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THEPUBLICDISPLAYOFATRADE-MARKINENGLISHONLYISPERMITTED
INQUEBEC

M
ARCELNAUDANDRALUCAPOPOVICI*
ROBIC,
LLP
L
AWYERS,PATENTANDTRADE-MARKAGENTS

BusinessownersarewelcometoaddgenericFrenchtermstotheirtrade-marks
registeredinEnglishonlypriortodisplayingthemonpublicsignsandpostersandin
commercialadvertising,butarenotobligedtodosobylaw.

OnApril9,2014,Quebec’sSuperiorCourtconfirmed[MagasinsBestBuyltée.v.
Québec(Procureurgénéral),2014QCCS1427]that,absentanyamendmentstothe
law,trade-marksmayappearexclusivelyinalanguageotherthanFrench,aslongas
aFrenchversionofthetrade-markhasnotbeenregisteredundertheTrade-marks
Act.

Severalbusinesses
[MagasinsBestBuyLtée.,CostcoWholesaleCanadaLtd.,Gap
(Canada)Inc.,OldNavy(Canada)Inc.,CorporationGuess?Canada,Lacompagnie
Wal-MartduCanada,Toys“R”USCanadaLtéeandCurvesInternational,Inc]who
usedtrade-marksregisteredwiththeCanadianIntellectualPropertyOfficesoughta
declaratoryjudgmentintheSuperiorCourtofQuebecinordertodeterminethe
followingissue:dotrade-marksthatwereregisteredsolelyinEnglishandthatare
usedonpublicsignsandincommercialadvertisingneedtobeaccompaniedbya
genericFrenchterminordertocomplywiththerequirementsoftheCharterofthe
FrenchLanguage(“Charter”)andwiththeRegulationrespectingthelanguageof
commerceandbusiness(”Regulation”)?

ThequestionaroseinthecontextofanawarenesscampaignlaunchedbytheOffice
delalanguefrançaise(the“Office”)forthepurposeofcounteringtheincreaseduse
ofEnglishtrade-marksincommercialpublicdisplaysandadvertising.Historically,
certainpracticeshadbeenacceptedbytheOfficeforalmost20years.Asof2011
however,theOfficestartedtosendceaseanddesistlettersandnoticeswarning
businessesthattheirfrancizationcertificatesmightbesuspendediftheydidnotadd
FrenchgenerictermstotheirEnglish-onlytrade-marksdisplayedonpublicsignsand
storefronts.AccordingtotheOffice’snewposition,suchuseofEnglishlanguage
trade-marksviolatedtheCharterandtheRegulation.

©CIPS,2014.*FromROBIC,LLP,amultidisciplinaryfirmofLawyers,andPatentandTrade-markAgents.Published
intheSpring2014(Vol.17,no.4)Newsletterofthefirm.Publication068.175E.

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TheAttorneyGeneralofQuebechadtodefendtheOffice’snewpositionabsentany
statutorychanges.Hiscontentioncanbesummarizedasfollows:usingatrade-mark
inpublicdisplaysisequivalenttousingitasabusinessname.Giventhatarticle27of
theRegulationrequiresthatnon-Frenchbusinessnamesbeusedwithageneric
termintheFrenchlanguage,businessesshalladdsuchgenerictermstotheirnon-
Frenchtrade-markswhendisplayingthempublicly.Thiswasso,despitethe
exceptionfoundinparagraph25(4)oftheRegulationallowingarecognizedtrade-
markwithinthemeaningoftheTradeMarksActtoappearinalanguageotherthan
Frenchonpublicsignsandpostersandincommercialadvertising,solongasno
Frenchversionofthetrade-markhadbeenregistered.

TheCourtfirmlyrejectedtheAttorneyGeneral’scontentiononthegroundsthatit
confusedtwoverydifferentconcepts:trade-marksandbusinessnames.Whilethe
essentialfunctionofatrade-markistodistinguishthewaresandservicesofone
merchantfromthoseofanother,abusinessnameidentifiesanddistinguishesone
businessfromanother.Trade-marksaregovernedbyaspecificlegalframework,
federallyestablished,andtheirintegrityisprotectedoutsidenationalboundaries,
independentlyofthelanguageinwhichtheyareregistered.Incontrast,thenameof
anenterprisemustbeinFrenchinQuebec.TheCourtnotedthattheFrench
languagerequirementsappliedstrictlytobusinessnamesbutnottoalltheother
namesunderwhichentitiescarryoutbusinessinQuebec.Anentitymaythuslistits
trade-marksamongstthenamesunderwhichitcarriesoutbusinesswithoutbeing
requiredtotranslatethemintoFrenchoraccompanythembyFrenchgenericterms.

Byvirtueofthisdistinction,theCourtdecidedthatsection25(4)oftheRegulation
createdanexplicitexemptiontotherulethatpublicsignsandpostersand
commercialadvertisingmustbeinFrench,inordertoallowtheuseoftrade-marks
registeredonlyinalanguageotherthanFrench.TheCourtconsideredthatthe
legislatormadeaninformeddecisiontoexcludethesetrade-marks.The
interpretationproposedbytheAttorneyGeneraldeprivedthisstatutoryexceptionof
allofitssubstance,byassimilatingpubliclyusedtrade-markstobusinessnamesand
thussubjectingthemtothesamefrancizationrequirementsapplicabletobusiness
names.Inshort,itisnotbecauseabusinessusesatrade-markonitsstorefrontthat
thetrade-markcanbeassimilatedtoabusinessnamesubjectedtotheCharter’s
requirementspertainingtothatconcept.
TheAttorneyGeneralthusfailedtodemonstratethatthetrade-marksatstakeinthis
casewereinanywayemployedasbusinessnames.Infact,theevidenceonfilewas
thatthebusinessnamesemployedbytheplaintiffsweredifferentfromtheregistered
trade-marksthattheyusedanddisplayedontheirstorefronts.

Giventheclarityofthelawandtheconsistentinterpretationithadreceivedsinceits
enactment,andabsentanyamendmentsbythelegislator,theCourtfoundnoground
to”magically”alterthestatusquothroughadeclaratoryjudgment.

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Itshouldbelearnedfromthiscasethatthepracticetorefrainfromregisteringa
FrenchversionofarecognizedtrademarkwithinthemeaningoftheTradeMarks
Acttobenefitfromtheexceptionallowingabusinesstodisplayitstrade-mark
exclusivelyinalanguageotherthanFrenchonpublicsignsandpostersandin
commercialadvertisinginQuebecisnotcontrarytotherequirementsoftheCharter
andRegulation.

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