Use of a Trade-Name in Breach of an Agreement: the Interlocutory Injunction’s Principles Reviewed by the Ontarian Superior Court of Justice

U
SEOFATRADE-NAMEINBREACHOFANAGREEMENT:THE
INTERLOCUTORYINJUNCTION’SPRINCIPLESREVIEWEDBYTHEONTARIAN
SUPERIORCOURTOFJUSTICE

CatherineDaigle*
LEGERROBICRICHARD,
LLP
Lawyers,PatentandTrademarkAgents
IslamicSocietyofNorthAmerica(ISNACanada)v.ShahrukhTeherany,Suraiya
Teheranyand1176630OntarioInc.,2007
CanLII37681(ONS.C.)(Docket07-CV-
336270PD2),ThorburnJ.,September13,2007
InarecentdecisionrenderedbytheOntarianSuperiorCourtofJustice,aninterim
andinterlocutoryinjunctionwasgrantedtotheIslamicSocietyofNorthAmerica(the
“Plaintiff”)inordertopreventShahrukhandSuraiyaTeherany(collectively,the
“Defendants”)fromusingtheISNATravelServicesandESNATravel’strade-names,
oranyvariationthereof.
Inthiscase,1176630OntarioInc.wasinitiallyincorporatedbythePlaintiffasatravel
agencywhichoperatedunderthenameISNATravelService.In2006,the
corporationwassoldtotheDefendants.
OneoftheactivitiesofferedbyboththePlaintiffandtheDefendantsisthe
organizationofpilgrimagestoSaudiArabia.Ascontractuallyagreedtobytheparties,
theDefendantswereallowedtousetheISNATravelServicestrade-nameforan
initialperiodofoneyearfromtheclosingdate,deadlinewhichwasafterward
extendeduntilJuly2007,whereasthePlaintiffcontinuouslyusedsaidtrade-name.
AlthoughthePlaintiffdoesnotdenytheDefendant’srighttoorganizepilgrimagesto
SaudiArabia,itneverthelessrequestthattheyceaseusingitstrade-nametodoso.
Indeed,theDefendantshavebeenusingtheISNATravelServicestrade-namewhen
obtainingvisasfromtheSaudiKingdom,andhavealsobeenusingitindealingwith
thepublic.Astheseactivitiesareincontraventionwiththeparties’agreement,the
PlaintifffiledamotionagainsttheDefendants.



















































©CIPS,2007.*Lawyer,CatherineDaigleisamemberofLEGERROBICRICHARD,LLP,amultidisciplinaryfirmof
lawyers,andpatentandtrademarkagents.

2
TheDefendants,whoarenotdisputingthattheyhavebeeninbreachoftheir
agreementwiththePlaintiff,suggestoperatingunderthenameESNATravel,which
nameisarguedbythePlaintifftobeconfusinglysimilarwithitstrade-name.
Inconsideringwhetherornottheinterlocutoryinjunctionshouldbegranted,theCourt
hastodetermineif(i)thereisaseriousissuetobetried;(ii)thePlaintiffhassuffered
irreparableharm;and(iii)thebalanceofconveniencefavoursthemovingparty.
SincetheDefendantsdonotdisputetheirbreachoftheagreement,theCourthas
foundthatthereisaseriousissuetobetried.
Sincethereisaclearandnondisputedbreachoftheagreementconcludedbetween
theparties,theCourtbaseditsdecisiononcaselawinvirtueofwhichthereisno
needforthePlaintifftoestablishirreparableharm,nortodemonstratethatthe
balanceofconvenienceliesinitsfavourinordertoobtainaninterlocutoryinjunction.

3
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