Industry committee  At the beginning I wanted to preface my comments by saying that I practised as a trademark lawyer for 27 years, and during that time there have been more than a few Olympic Games, and one or two in Canada as well. I think we have some experience already about how the protection o

Industry committee  We've already said that the broad provisions in paragraph 4(1)(a) are useful. They act as deterrents, in a way. They will permit VANOC, the Paralympic committee, and the Canadian Olympic Committee to advertise the importance of compliance with this act. Beyond that, a lot of the

Industry committee  The legislation is drafted to permit sponsors to sue in the event that they first request VANOC, the COC, or CPC to take action and, for whatever reason, they don't. So sponsors will be able to carry litigation in this case. That sets up an unfair situation where a sponsor may

Industry committee  On the way the bill is drafted, the first line is for the COC, CPC, or an organizing committee, but it is drafted to permit sponsors to go, not if they don't get satisfaction, but if the organizing committee decides not to go or does not respond. There could be very good reasons

Industry committee  I have three comments. First, the current regime of the Trade-marks Act already gives very special protection to Olympic organizations. They qualify for super trademarks that until now have been very effective in enforcing rights. Second, on this irreparable harm—I want to make

Industry committee  I think your point would be addressed by the legislation. Your point would also be addressed by the Trade-marks Act and would also further be addressed by improving Canada's counterfeiting and anti-counterfeiting legislation, which is another wish that IPIC has. I think that with

Industry committee  Sure. This legislation doesn't deal primarily with counterfeiting; it deals primarily with ambush marketing. That's the stated intent. The term isn't found in the legislation, but that's the impact. IPIC does strongly support laws that improve Canada's international position, wh

Industry committee  In interpreting any particular incident, a court generally looks at the language of the statute. The language of guidelines is not binding on a court. The guidelines may impact the way in which the organization itself deals with the legislation, but it's not binding on a court. T

Industry committee  The answer to that requires you to look at a combination of things within the act. First of all, clause 3 prohibits the adoption or use in connection with a business. So perhaps a provincial games would not be classified as a business.

Industry committee  I think what we'd find in that situation is that any sponsors involved in those provincial games would be under the prohibitions of the statute. Subclause 3(1) prohibits the use of a number of specifically Olympic terms. So as long as the provincial games didn't use those Olymp

Industry committee  Well, “10” is already an official mark. Under the language of the Trade-marks Act, no person shall use in connection with a business, as a trademark or otherwise, any mark that's been protected or resembles a mark that's been protected.

Industry committee  We support sunsetting of the bill to the extent that it deals specifically with activities relating to the Vancouver Olympics. We think that following the experience of the Vancouver Olympics, there may very well be other ways to deal with issues of ambush marketing, and at that

Industry committee  Well, it's clear from listening to the presentations around the table today that there are lots of discussions that are taking place with the parties about how the bill will be interpreted and how the bill will be enforced. I think this is just one of the discussions that could e

Industry committee  I think it would be difficult to mandate that the court have judges ready, willing, and able to deal with it. I think it would be preferable to discuss it with the court. I think they would probably understand the importance of being available during this time and would make avai

Industry committee  No, it's not really a suggestion, it's a comment, and that is that in urgent situations, parties can get access to the court on very short notice. That happens now. I think that during the Olympics, it could easily happen, as well.