Trade-Marks Board Holds 'European Flavors' and 'Saveurs D'Europe' Not Clearly Descriptive

摘要

This decision is a reminder that the word "clearly" has been introduced in paragraph 12(1) (b) of the Canadian Trade-marks Act to preserve the registrability of suggestive marks. Such an analysis of descriptiveness under the statue may be particularly favorable in cases where two common dictionary words are combined to create a coined expression, irrespective of the inherently weak nature of said expression. More importantly, this decision illustrates that in choosing a trade-mark, a trader should consider the potential difficulties associated with obtaining monopolistic rights in trade-marks which may be viewed as straddling the descriptiveness divide.