The Top 10 Trademark Cases Of 2017

McMillan LLP’s Intellectual Property group welcomes readers into 2018. Our gift is a “top 10 list” of trademark cases from Canadian case law from 2017.

1.  Google v. Equustek Solutions, 2017 SCC 34

The first decision in this list only tangentially relates to trademarks, but its ramifications are so significant that it merits inclusion anyway.

Datalink was alleged to have rebranded one of Equustek’s products and passed it off as its own. An injunction was granted in favour of Equustek. Datalink abandoned the proceedings and left the jurisdiction without complying with Court orders.

The issue before the Supreme Court of Canada was whether Equustek was entitled to an interlocutory injunction to enjoin Google from displaying any part of Datalink’s websites on any of its search results worldwide. The order was originally granted by the Supreme Court of British Columbia. The British Columbia Court of Appeal upheld the order.