Edited by Chantal Saunders and Beverley Moore , Adrian Howard and Ryan Steeves

Trade-Mark Cases

18-year old official mark quashed for not being a "public authority"
TCC Holdings Inc v. Families as Support Teams Society, 2014 FC 830

TCC holdings sought judicial review of a decision of the Registrar of Trade-marks to publish the adoption of the use by the Families as Support Teams Society of the official mark F A S T on May 1, 1996.

The Court looked to whether the Respondent met the test as a public authority for the purposes of subparagraph 9(1)(n)(iii) of the Trade-marks Act. The Court noted that being incorporated as a non- profit corporation with charitable objects, having obtained tax-exempt status, and having the ability to issue charitable receipts to donors was in law, was insufficient to constitute that party a "public authority". There was also evidence of some money being provided by the government to the organization, but the sum total of the evidence was not sufficient for the Court to find ongoing government supervision or significant governmental control.

In the result, the decision of the Registrar to provide public notice of the official mark was quashed.

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