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Motion to stay action for lack of jurisdiction dismissed; foreign defendant carries on business in Ontario.
The plaintiff, an Ontario corporation, sued the defendant, a Wisconsin corporation, in Ontario for unpaid royalty payments under a licence agreement.
The defendant brought a motion to dismiss or stay the action, arguing the Ontario court lacked jurisdiction simpliciter or was forum non conveniens.
The court found it had jurisdiction because the defendant carried on business in Ontario through its employees and direct sales.
The court declined to stay the action, finding the defendant failed to establish that Wisconsin was clearly the more appropriate forum.
Registration of a trade-mark is a complete defence to a common law passing off claim.
The appellant brought an action for passing off against the respondent, alleging that the name and get-up of the respondent's beer product caused confusion with its own product.
The trial judge dismissed the action.
On appeal, the Court of Appeal affirmed the dismissal, holding that the respondent's registered trade-mark for the label was a complete defence to the passing off claim.
Under section 19 of the Trade-marks Act, the registration of a trade-mark gives the owner the exclusive right to use it throughout Canada unless the mark is shown to be invalid.
