The corporate behind the “Canada Is Not For Sale” hats worn by Ontario Premier Doug Ford despatched a cease-and-desist letter to a B.C. enterprise promoting merchandise with related phrasing.
The discover was despatched on behalf of Ottawa-based Jackpine Dynamic Branding Inc. to Cutouts Canada, a print-on-demand service in Victoria, B.C., specializing in T-shirts, stickers and tote baggage.
The letter calls on Cutouts Canada to cease the “illegal use” of Jackpine’s pending Canada Is Not For Sale trademark.
“I principally had a minor panic assault proper within the store,” Bartosz Boz of Cutouts Canada mentioned of his response when he obtained the letter on Thursday.
Boz mentioned his gadgets don’t embody the phrase “Canada Is Not For Sale.” Slightly, they function a picture of the map of Canada with the phrases “Not For Sale” beneath it.
Premier Doug Ford wore the hat whereas chatting with reporters forward of a premiers’ assembly with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to debate Canada’s response to the specter of U.S. tariffs. It was designed by an Ottawa-based firm in response to U.S. president Donald Trump’s latest musings about Canada changing into the 51st state.
Jackpine has filed to trademark the phrase, a request that’s at present below assessment.
The cease-and-desist letter to Cutouts Canada says the Ontario premier wore a Jackpine hat emblazoned with the phrases “Canada Is Not For Sale” at a Jan. 15 press convention amid threats of U.S. tariffs. It says Jackpine skilled a surge in media consideration afterward, “highlighting the model’s distinctive message and merchandise.”
For these causes, “Jackpine has the appropriate to exclude others from utilizing the CANADA IS NOT FOR SALE Trademark or any emblems which can be confusingly much like the CANADA IS NOT FOR SALE Trademark,” the letter reads.
Boz mentioned the precise phrase “Canada just isn’t on the market” didn’t seem on Cutouts Canada gadgets, however did seem on its web site. The language on the web site has been tweaked, he mentioned, and the legislation agency that despatched the letter has confirmed that his firm’s actions have been enough they usually take into account the matter closed.
Boz mentioned he has heard from different firms that additionally obtained cease-and-desist letters associated to Jackpine.
“For them to only be so aggressive, actually, is simply disingenuous,” he mentioned. “It is a time when Canadians needs to be coming collectively.”
John Simpson, a Toronto-based lawyer specializing in trademark and copyright legislation, confirmed it’s doable to ship a cease-and-desist letter for a trademark declare that’s below assessment.
“If I’ve established goodwill and popularity in affiliation with the trademark and you’re utilizing it in a approach that’s complicated … then I can sue you for passing off, which is type of infringement of an unregistered trademark,” Simpson mentioned, including that it might probably take round two years for a trademark utility to be reviewed.
Jackpine didn’t reply to a CBC Information request for an interview.
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