TRADE MARKS |
Infringement |
Société des loteries du Québec v. Club Lotto International C.L.I. Inc.
T-305-98
Blais J.
25/1/01
50 pp.
Application for permanent injunction and damages in respect of trade-marks "Lotto 649 & design", "Lotto 6/49 & design" and "6/49"--According to plaintiff, defendant's advertising alleged system made it possible to maximize chances of winning top prize in Lotto 6/49 more than 84 times, namely 1 chance out of 166,474 rather than 1 chance in 13,983,816 with 6-number ticket--Plaintiff argued use of marks by defendant in advertising likely to create confusion with plaintiff's official marks--Plaintiff argued defendant's activities consisted of false or misleading statements having effect of discrediting plaintiff's products and services and also constituting unfair competition and infringement of marks and infringing plaintiff's copyright--Application allowed--Defendant used plaintiff's official marks in association with its services contrary to Trade-marks Act, ss. 9 and 11--While could not be established defendant used official marks as trade-marks, actions fell under "otherwise"--Official marks created for purpose of reserving exclusive use for public authorities and protection of official marks much broader than that of registered trade-marks, by addition of words "or otherwise"--However, defendant's activities not unfair competition within meaning of Act, s. 7--Going too far to suggest defendant made misleading representations by suggesting customers had greater chances of winning by selecting future tickets from numbers used most frequently in the past--Not shown defendant made false or misleading statement tending to discredit business of competitor or defendant's action could cause confusion with plaintiff's goods and services, or that defendant used description likely to mislead public--However, defendant infringed plaintiff's copyrights by reproducing plaintiff's lottery tickets in whole or in part and plaintiff's group agreement and tables, contrary to Copyright Act, ss. 3 and 27--Permanent injunction granted in accordance with reasons--Copyright Act, R.S.C., 1985, c. C-42, ss. 3 (as am. by R.S.C., 1985 (4th Supp.), c. 10, s. 2; S.C. 1988, c. 65, s. 62; 1993, c. 23, s. 2; c. 44, s. 56; 1997, c. 24, s. 4), 27 (as am. by R.S.C., 1985 (3rd Supp.) c. 1, s. 13; (4th Supp.), c. 10, s. 5; S.C. 1993, c. 44, s. 64; 1997, c. 24, s. 15)--Trade-marks Act, R.S.C., 1985, c. T-13, ss. 7, 9 (as am. by S.C. 1990, c. 14, s. 8; 1993, c. 15, s. 58; c. 44, ss. 226, 236; 1994, c. 47, s. 191; 1999, c. 31, s. 209), 11.