Mr. Justice Mosley performed a distinctiveness analysis and found that FRENCH PRESS is a generic trademark. The Federal Court of Canada expunged trademark registration TMA 475,721 for FRENCH PRESS covering Non-electric coffee makers. Bodum USA, Inc. v. Meyer Housewares Canada Inc., 2012 FC 1450; Bodum USA, Inc. v. Meyer Housewares Canada Inc., 2013 FCA 240 (appeal dismissed) THE LEGISLATIVE and… Continue reading French Press is a Generic Trademark
Category: Generic Trademarks
Generic trademarks are not registrable, pursuant to sub-sections 12(1) (b) and (c) of the Trademarks Act.
Trademarks Act
Section 12 (1) Subject to section 13, a trade-mark is registrable if it is not:
A Generic Trademark
- (b) whether depicted, written or sounded, either clearly descriptive or deceptively misdescriptive in the English or French language of the character or quality of the goods or services in association with which it is used or proposed to be used or of the conditions of or the persons employed in their production or of their place of origin; and
- (c) the name in any language of any of the goods or services in connection with which it is used or proposed to be used.