The Seven Deadly Sins refers to a list of the most objectionable vices known to mankind, namely: wrath, greed, sloth, pride, lust, envy, and gluttony. \u00a0While most trade- mark agents and lawyers are no doubt completely free of any such vices (What? \u00a0Why are you laughing?), in my years of practice I have sometimes noted that the same cannot be said for many trade-mark owners.<\/p>\n
W<\/strong>r<\/strong>ath<\/strong>, also known as anger or rage, is defined as \u201cinordinate and uncontrolled feelings of hatred and anger\u201d. \u00a0Does this sound like any trade-mark litigation matters that you are involved with? \u00a0While trade-mark litigation or opposition is necessarily adversarial, trade-mark owners should refrain from proceeding on the basis of anger, impatience, or revenge.\u00a0 \u00a0Opposition or litigation matters should be entered into with a view to achieving a specific objective of the opponent \/ plaintiff, not due to a personal vendetta or dislike for a competitor.<\/p>\n Greed <\/strong>is a sin of excess, an inordinate desire to acquire or possess more than one needs or deserves.\u00a0 \u00a0Trade- mark owners often face real business decisions about what trade-marks to protect. \u00a0For example, owners often face decisions about whether to file for a word mark, a design mark, or both, or whether to include a colour claim in their trade-mark application. \u00a0A good trade-mark lawyer can advise their client with respect to these decisions.<\/p>\n S<\/strong>l<\/strong>o<\/strong>th <\/strong>is more commonly known as laziness or a failure to utilize one\u2019s talents and gifts. \u00a0In Canada, it is the trade- mark owners\u2019 responsibility to police the marketplace and take steps to enforce its legal rights where necessary. Sometimes, trade-mark owners will go through the registration process, but then they will get lazy and fail to take any steps to enforce their legal rights. The real danger of laziness is that when one finally decides to enforce their legal rights, these rights may be diminished due to a clouded marketplace.<\/p>\n Pride <\/strong>is considered to be the original and most serious of the seven deadly sins. \u00a0It is identified as \u201ca desire to be more important or attractive than others\u2026and excessive love of self\u201d.\u00a0 \u00a0In the trade-mark context, some owners are in serious LOVE with their trade-marks, and are constantly trying to be more important or attractive than others. \u00a0This pride in one\u2019s mark often manifests itself in unsubstantiated lawsuits against third parties, because the owner is convinced that its mark is entitled to greater protection than it actually is. \u00a0While it\u2019s important to en- force your trade-mark and exercise your legal rights, it\u2019s also important to understand the true nature of your legal rights.<\/p>\n Lust <\/strong>generally refers to \u201cexcessive thoughts or desires of a sexual nature\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0If your trade-mark is a little too \u201clusty\u201d, you may find yourself afoul of section 9(1)(j) of the Trade-marks Act, which prohibits \u201cany scandalous, obscene or immoral word or device\u201d.<\/p>\n En<\/strong>v<\/strong>y <\/strong>is committed when an individual \u201cresents that an- other person has something they perceive themselves as lacking, and wish the other person to be deprived of it\u201d. It is not uncommon for trade-mark owners to be envious of a competitor\u2019s trade-mark, and to seek to infringe the trade-mark rights of that competitor. \u00a0While imitation is the greatest form of flattery, when it comes to trade- marks, a distinctive mark is one that contains inherent distinctiveness, and not a mark that simply envies or copies another trade-mark.<\/p>\n Gluttony <\/strong>is the \u201cover-indulgence or over-consumption of anything to the point of waste\u201d.\u00a0Trade-mark owners can at times over-indulge when it comes to setting out their statement of goods and services in a trade-mark application. \u00a0In Canada, applicants are only required to pay one official filing fee regardless of the number of goods and services listed in the application. \u00a0However, I regularly advise clients to only include those particular goods and services that they reasonably foresee themselves entering into. \u00a0By listing many goods and services, an applicant is more likely to face objections from the Trade- marks Office, and oppositions from third parties.<\/p>\n If you\u2019ve committed one or more the above sins and need to confess to your trade-mark lawyer, please contact the author directly.<\/p>\n This article was originally published in the August 2010 edition of the Perlaw Reporter.\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Seven Deadly Sins refers to a list of the most objectionable vices known to mankind, namely: wrath, greed, sloth, pride, lust, envy, and gluttony. \u00a0While most trade- mark agents and lawyers are no doubt completely free of any such vices (What? \u00a0Why are you laughing?), in my years of practice I have sometimes noted […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_expertise_area":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[82],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1619","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-publication","expertise_area-intellectual-property","expertise_area-trade-marks"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/perlaw.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1619","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/perlaw.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/perlaw.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/perlaw.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/perlaw.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1619"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/perlaw.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1619\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2903,"href":"https:\/\/perlaw.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1619\/revisions\/2903"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/perlaw.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/perlaw.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/perlaw.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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