A recent decision of the Federal Court clarifies that non-profit
entities have rights arising from the use of their trade names.
The Application
Carbon Trust filed a trade mark application for the mark set out
below
for use in association with certification of companies, persons,
processes, products and systems with the purpose of monitoring and
improving quality and measuring standards as to energy consumption,
energy efficiency, carbon dioxide emissions, greenhouse gas
emissions or other environmental standards.
The Opposition
Pacific Carbon Trust is a Crown Corporation in British Columbia
that was set up as part of the province's Climate Action Plan.
It opposed the application on a number of grounds, including the
ground that the applicant was not entitled to register the mark
because at the date of filing, the mark was confusing with the
opponent's trade-names Pacific Carbon Trust and Pacific Carbon
Trust Inc. which had been previously used by the
