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ARTICLE · 30 DECEMBER 2015

Hanging Up The Holiday Lights As IP Infringement?

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It's less than two weeks until Christmas and if you have yet to hang your lights outside, you may be in the doghouse.

CanadaIntellectual Property
Noel Courage
Noel Courage
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It's less than two weeks until Christmas and if you have yet to hang your lights outside, you may be in the doghouse. Excuses are few at this point, so there's no harm in trying a longshot – you haven't strung the lights up because, well, it may be design infringement!

Canadian Tire is suing Wal-Mart for design infringement1 over Wal-Mart's sale in Canada of holiday lights with a spring-operated clip that can attach to a gutter, shingles, tree branch and the like.  Canadian Tire is not claiming to own the general concept of a spring-operated clip-on light, just its own proprietary design. A drawing from the registered design is below, along with a photo of the corresponding product in action, from the Canadian Tire (Noma brand) package:

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