Since the mid-1990s, brand owners in Canada have considered that
their chances of obtaining interlocutory injunctions for trademark
infringement at the Federal Court of Canada were slim. The majority
of decisions coming out of the Federal Court have denied these
kinds of injunctions.
A recent case of the Federal Court, however, has allowed an
interlocutory injunction on the basis of alleged trademark
infringement. This decision has created speculation that the
Federal Court may be entering a new era in which interlocutory
injunctions are easier to obtain.
In Sleep Country Canada Inc. v. Sears Canada Inc., 2017 FC 148,
the plaintiff, Sleep Country Canada, Inc., sought an interlocutory
injunction against Sears Canada Inc. prohibiting Sears from using a
new slogan, "There is no reason to buy a mattress anywhere
else." Sleep Country alleged that Sears' new slogan was an
infringement of Sleep Country's registered trademark slogan,
WHY BUY A MATTRESS ANYWHERE ELSE?, on
