In a recent decision, See You In – Canadian Athletes Fund Corporation v. Canadian Olympic Committee, the Federal Court of Appeal agreed with the decision of the application judge which we reported on last May.

The Court of Appeal also concluded that the Canadian Olympic Committee (“the COC”) had not proved use of its official marks, “See You in Torino”, “See You in Beijing” and “See You in Vancouver”, because there was no clear evidence of a public display of the marks at issue and the COC’s evidence on this point was equivocal at best.

The appellant, See You In – Canadian Athletes Fund (“the SYI Fund”) argued, even though it was successful before the application judge, that the judge should not have dismissed its argument that the COC was a licensee of the International Olympic Committee and could therefore not register the official marks. The Court of Appeal declined to consider this argument noting that where an appellant obtains the relief sought, the appellant is not normally allowed to appeal the judge’s reasons. A decision on this point would have been useful to the SYI Fund, and presumably others seeking to challenge official marks registered by the COC.