TRADE MARKS |
Registration |
Dairy Farmers of Canada v. Hunt-Esson, Inc.
T-756-99
Nadon J.
7/7/00
13 pp.
Appeal from Registrar of Trade-marks decision dismissing opposition to respondent's application for trade mark "Goût de Beurre Comme au Cinéma" as not clearly descriptive or deceptively misdescriptive--Appeal dismissed--United States Polo Assn. v. Polo Ralph Lauren Corp. (1999), 163 F.T.R. 59 (F.C.T.D.), where approach to be taken by Federal Court judge in determining appeal under Trade-marks Act, s. 56(1) discussed (given special experience and knowledge of registrar, appellant must show, in light of all evidence, decisions not "correct"), applied--Appellants have not established Registrar's conclusion erroneous--Decision reasonable primarily because trade mark must be considered as whole: trade mark not simply "goût du beurre" but "goût du beurre comme au cinéma"--Decision based on premise most consumers would not expect product to contain butter or significant amount thereof--Moreover, taken as whole, only thing product presumes to reflect not butter itself, but taste of butter one gets at movie theatres--Registrar engaged in quite thorough analysis of how word "butter" used in other products before arriving at conclusion--Registrar's analysis entirely reasonable on evidence and no basis on which to reverse decision--Appellant's survey flawed and biased and answers to survey must be disregarded--Trade-marks Act, R.S.C., 1985, c. T-13, s. 56(1).