On April 27th of this year, a group of leading
retailers, including Best Buy, Costco and Wal-Mart, won their
case before the Quebec Court of Appeal, which
confirmed that the display of their English trademarks on
storefront signage of the locations they operate in Quebec is in
compliance with the Charter of the French
Language (Charter).
The Court of Appeal upheld the
judgment rendered by the Superior Court of Quebec in April 2014 in
which Justice Michel Yergeau found that pursuant to Section 25 (4)
of the Regulation respecting the language of commerce and business
(Regulation), the display of a trademark in a language other than
French is permitted on public signs and in commercial advertising,
especially on storefront signage, as long as a French version of
the trademark has not been registered.
