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Canadian Mint Claims Rights To Words "One Cent"
knorthern knight writes "A weird intersection of copyright/trademark with politics is playing out in Canada. Short background: various Canadian cities and municipalities have launched a publicity/lobbying campaign seeking a fixed take from the GST (Goods and Services Tax, a national Canadian sales tax similar to European VAT). The amount sought is 1 cent for each dollar of the purchase price. This is summarized by the slogan 'One Cent of the GST NOW.' According to a press release, the Royal Canadian Mint (the federal agency that prints Canadian paper currency and stamps Canadian coins) has demanded from the City of Toronto $47,680 in royalties for use of the phrase 'one cent', and the image of the Canadian penny. $10,000 covers the use of the words 'one cent' in the campaign website address (www.onecentnow.ca) and email address (onecentnow@toronto.ca). An additional $10,000 is demanded for the use of these words in the campaign phone number (416-ONE-CENT). The remaining $27,680 covers the use of the image of the Canadian penny in printed materials such as pins and posters." Here's a National Post article on the brouhaha.
There are some days I have to double check myself and make sure I'm not reading the Onion by mistake. Those days seem to be becoming larger in number.
Anyone else think the comments just weren't rendering right before they turned off ABP and saw ads?
I thought the Romans had the cent long before Canada.
The game.
... change the tax to 'two cents', and forward all complaints to the 'Royal Canadian Mint'
The Canadian mint must have been inspired by all the similar antics that happen in America.
Canadians can't stand for this. We have to stamp the crazy out now, before it spreads.
"Live as if you'll die tomorrow." Ridiculous. You could die later today.
.... Toronto should pay. .... In cash. .... In pennies.
This is the mint, they deal with TONS of cents EACH AND EVERY DAY, you think 4.768.000 coins is going to scare them? They got machines for that. Oh and processing fees.
If you have any kind of a decent bank, they just take your old jar of coins, empty it in a machine and a little later they got a nice total and the money sorted. if your bank charges you for this, you know you got a bad bank. Granted, it is getting harder to find a good bank, in my youth banks went out of their way to advertise bank accounts to small kids, allowing them to save coins and then deposit them in a savings account. Their way of getting future business I guess. Today if you show up with a ton of cash to put into their accounts so they can make amazing profits on it, they charge you a deposit fee. Ah progress.
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Please someone tell me this is a joke.
I often have trouble remembering which way is out of bed in the morning.
No.
Although, as mentioned, the Royal Canadian Mint is a Crown corporation, not a government agency.
www.timcoleman.com is a total waste of your time. Never go there.
I am embarrassed to be Canadian. Clearly this is the first of many stupid things to happen. Next Up: Canadian Election. Do I vote for tweedle Dee or tweedle Dumb.
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You're about five years behind the times. These days, he's only about 49 cents
1) Under the Berne convention there is no need for copyright notices for works to be protected
2) prior use / art applies to brevets, not to copyright
3) as above
4) well, that could work, but I don't see it as mattering in court
I don't see the mint winning either, at least on the "one cent" phrase; they may have a point on the use of the image of the canadian penny, however.
Haven't been watching the currency markets lately have you?
Although there are 123 marks containing "cent", some of them are things like "nutracent", which does not contain the word "cent". Only one result comes up when I search for "one cent", and this is not actually a mark - it is an index term for a banknote design. In sum, I see no evidence that the mark "one cent" is owned by anyone, much less that "one cent" is an official mark of the Crown or of the Mint. Have I missed something?
A second point is that registration of an official mark does not prevent the use of the same words in a generic sense, only as a competing mark. It is less than clear to me whether all of the uses to which "one cent" is being put in this campaign constitute use as marks.