Here’s a strange one:
The City of Toronto launched an ad campaign “One Cent Now” to increase support in Ottawa for a measure to set aside more tax funds for Ottowan cities. The ad campaign depicts the obverse (tails) of a Canadian penny. The Royal Canadian Mint sent a bill for $47,000 in licensing fees, claiming that the design of the penny and the term “One Cent” are the mint’s registered trademarks. (source)
Perhaps someone licensed in Canada can chime in here…
Update, Ron Coleman had an earlier story on another strange Canadian trademark issue – apparently back in January, the Canadian Supreme Court asserted trademark rights against a blogger who posted a drawing of the Canadian Supreme Court building. (original story here).
There must be a Canadian trademark lawyer out there who can give us all a little “Canadian Trademarks 101” lesson and explain just what is going on up there. Of course, they are probably all busy being giddy over the fact that the U.S. Dollar is actually worth less than the Canadian Dollar now… Thanks George. Put another war on the country’s credit card and we can start looking longingly at the relative strength of the Peso.
