The Vancouver Sun is reporting on a study released by two professors at the University of British Columbia’s Sauder School of Business.
According to the study, the reputation of online sellers at Amazon carries more weight with consumers than the online seller ratings at eBay, a result of the feedback mechanisms used on the different sites.
A recent story in the Vancouver Sun explains that the most recent manifestation of the comic book hero, Captain Canuck, is a Surrey British Columbia RCMP officer named David Semple. Captain Canuck, a complicated character that has appeared in at least two other manifestations since his original introduction in 1975, is the creation of Richard Comely of Cambridge, Ontario.
For anyone else who thinks it is a clever idea, Mr. Comely has already registered CAPTAIN CANUCK as a trademark, has registered the domain name captaincanuck.com and has optioned the film rights.
We recently reported on concerns that the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic Games has regarding ambush marketing. Ambush marketing occurs when persons who are not properly licensed, market their wares and services in a manner which suggests a connection with the Games, often resulting in trade-mark infringement of protected Olympic marks.
Now it appears the that London Organizing Committee for the 2012 Olympic Games may face the opposite problem. The official emblem for the 2012 Olympics, which is a coloured jagged design based on the date 2012, was unveiled on Monday. However, animated footage promoting the brand launch had to be quickly removed from the organizers’ website amid fears it could trigger epileptic fits. The particular footage showed a diver diving into a pool which had a multi-colour ripple effect. The emblem itself, which cost £400,000, is also attracting the wrong kind of attention. Only two days after its launch, nearly 50,000 people had signed an on-line petition to have the logo scrapped, describing it as “ridiculous” and “an embarrassment to London”. The UK Daily Mail newspaper called it “the work of a painting chimp”.
There was controversy when the symbol for the Vancouver Games was first introduced, but that was mild in comparision.
We recently reported on the increased appearance of creative trademarks for wine, based on applications to the Canadian Trade-marks Registrar over the last few months. Thanks to the creative talents of wine marketing trendsetters like B.C.’s own Bernie Hadley-Beauregard of Brandever Strategies, this movement appears to be continuing.
Recent applications include some animal references such as SPEEDY TURTLE (Application No. 1,299,250), FOUR EMUS & Design (Application No. 1,280,221), CAT’S TAIL (Application No. 1,305,983) and RED KANGAROO (Application No. 1,277,928).
Many Canadian companies have taken the lead with some less traditional names for wine appearing as recently advertised marks in the Canadian Trade-marks Journal. They include: from Ontario, BARE NAKED (Application No. 1,302,240, but apparently opposed by Bear Naked, Inc.), and from Québec, SEXY LIZARD (Application No. 1,299,249) and LOST BIKINI (Application No. 1,299,255), giving new meaning to the phrase “in vino veritas“. Other applications showing a little more restraint include LITTLE BLACK DRESS (Application No. 1,282,547) and QUEEN OF HEARTS & Design (Application No. 1,300,388).
Despite the move to more creative wine brands, the more prevalent trend seems to be in favour of old world references. Many recent applications for trade-marks for wines in Canada refer to the foreign language names of origin, invoking images of warm Mediterranean climates and rambling vineyards and include: from France, TERRA DI CORSICA (Application No. 1,295,086), from Italy, BELLA TAVOLA (Application No. 1,293,966) and TORRAE DEL SALE (Application No. 1,303,138), from Spain, GRAN SANGRE DE TORO (Application No. 1,287,621), GRAN VIÑA SOL (Application No. 1,287,627) and MAS LA PLANA (Application No. 1,287,622), from Portugal QUINTA NOVA DE NOSSA SENHORA DO CARMO (Application No. 1,287,990), from Quebec, AMBROZZI DI CHANTIO (Application No. 1,264,858), from Argentina VALLE PERDIDO & Design (Application No. 1,295,840). ¡Salud!
U.S. based Circuit City has put its Canadian chain of stores up for sale, citing, among other reasons, the tens of millions of dollars it was forced to spend in re-branding. Circuit City acquired the chain of stores formerly known as Radio Shack in Canada three years ago. Following completion of that transaction, they were forced to change the name of the stores to The Source by Circuit City. As well as the large re-branding costs incurred, other reasons cited for the sale include increased competitiveness and shrinking margins in the consumer electronics business, difficulties in changing the focus of the types of merchandise offered and Circuit City’s own difficulties in the U.S. market.
The Vancouver Sun has followed up yesterday’s article regarding official marks with an article today (Friday, March 30, 2007) regarding the proposed legislation now before the Canadian Parliament. The Sun also includes an editorial referring to the legislation as “overkill”. We previously commented on the basic elements of the legislation.
The front page of the Vancouver Sun today (Thursday, March 29, 2007) features an interesting article on the official marks registered by the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic Games (“VANOC”) and the Canadian Olympic Committee. The article notes that VANOC has rights to FRIEND as an official mark and could potentially bring legal proceedings if someone attempts to use it in connection with a business.
According to VANOC, they have no intention of preventing the use of words like “friend” on their own. They are, however, concerned about ambush marketing in the lead up to the 2010 Olympic Games and intend to prevent persons who are not properly licensed from marketing wares and services that suggest a connection with the Games.
It may be up to the courts to determine whether ordinary words like “friend” can be official marks. The Vancouver Sun article references an Alberta case (Canadian Olympic Association v. Hipson) that arose in the lead up to the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics in which the court questioned the Association’s right to claim “winter” and “1988” as official marks.
What the Vancouver Sun article does not discuss is the proposed legislation now before Parliament which we discussed in an earlier blog and which, if enacted, will extend the power of VANOC even further.