What’s In a Name?
By Jack deWit
Monday, February 06, 2006 03:45 AM
by Jack deWit
It appears that the Vancouver Organizing Committee (VANOC) is determined to have a small business in the lower mainland change its name. VANOC claims that Olympic First Aid Inc. of Port Coquitlam, is infringing on the “Olympic” name and is threatening this small business with legal action to prove its point.
A quick check on www.myTelus.com located quite a number of businesses in B.C. that use the word “Olympic” in their name or products. These businesses range anywhere from the mom and pop home business to huge international corporations.
In a news release from January 25, 2006 VANOC claims that it is under the law of the International Olympic Committee and “must ensure that the value and integrity of the Olympic Brand is maintained”. Therefore all businesses that were named and registered after January 1998 without the blessing of VANOC will be required to change their names.
Strangely, the last paragraph states, “these are not hard and fast rules, and will not be applied arbitrarily. VANOC will assess each business individually, and will carefully consider all of the circumstances”.
So why is this one small first aid company being a target of VANOC? Is it because it is small and it may have difficulty in managing legal fees? This company had approached VANOC when it named the business in 2004 and no objection was voiced. Is there a personal dispute somewhere in the background? Perhaps it is just an ego trip on behalf of some individuals in the committee.
If these 2010 Olympic Games are to produce any benefits for B.C. residents, this type of nonsense must stop immediately. Our Premier, Gordon Campbell, is forever promoting small business in B.C. and perhaps he should have the courage to demand that VANOC concentrate on providing successful and profitable Games in 2010, instead of employing our overloaded courts to battle such a petty disagreement.
I, for one, cannot afford to go to Whistler at the present time let alone during the Olympics. This event will not benefit the 250 area code. The insignificant legacy program produced by the Liberal government will provide very little to rural B.C. On the other hand, some businesses of considerable size in the Vancouver, Whistler area will be winners. Those in government, organizers of the games, and major sponsors have created an event for the elite. These dignitaries and their cohorts would prefer to see their names in the history books rather than be concerned about B.C.’s future.
However, the largest benefactor will undoubtedly be the Government of B.C. The revenue gained from taxes will amount to millions of dollars that will certainly never be shared equally with the taxpayers who made the 2010 extravaganza possible in the first place.
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Posted by: doc on February 8 2006 5:22 PM
The name registries office for the province of BC is operating outside of legislation on the direct authority of the premiers office to restrict any company or non-profit organization in BC from legally registering any name with the year term '2010' associated in any way with the company or society.
This means no '2010' community fair, no '2010' hockey tournement, no '2010' economic development initiatives, no '2010' service industry.
The year 2010 is not a trademarked term in Canada because in Canada under federal law you can not trademark a place, or date in sole or in part. In otherwords Canadian law says you can not trademark the term Friday, or December, or 1986, or 2010 under any circumstance. Premier Campbells' office is getting around trademark laws by using the powers of the incorporation act in BC to eliminate any use of the year term 2010 by any group or individual that is not sanctioned by the VANOC.
I have the Canadian trademark for the legal term Eco-tourism 2010 and had plans to set up an eco-tourism brokerage web site that would coordinate eco-tourism service providers and fundraise/advocate for improvements to eco-tourism infrastructure.
When the group I was working with tried to register as a society we ran directly into the premiers office edict at the corporate registries office. The BC liberal government said the only way we could do business in BC regardless of the trademark we held for use of our name was if VANOC gave its blessing for the type of operation we wished to pursue.
When our plan was presented to VANOC their response was that it was a great idea, but they could only allow us to proceed if the project was managed from the VANOC office in Vancouver. Ie managed by VANOC for the lower mainland tourism industry and not for the tourism industry of Northern BC, as had been intended. My opinion is that VANOC was about a 2 week sporting event and did not have authority over any organization that wished to have a competing event for tourism in the year 2010.
We disagreed with the premiers office that VANOC had the legal authority to select who is allowed to do business in BC and to take our idea under VANOC management for their own agenda. The BC government sided with VANOC, and VANOC stole our idea in part when they rolled out Spirit of 2010 Committee, which they then claimed was the proper venue if we wished to promote tourism in 2010.
I took VANOC to court for infringement of my trademark rights, but they had a government funded legal team that succeeded in getting a non ruling under an obscure BC law that restricts lawsuits against the government in BC for issues that are government related even though VANOC is not a government entity, because VANOC claimed that the corporate registry is government business and any decision they make in regards to a premiers office ruling is government business.
Since then I have witnessed them cherry pick one idea after another from my original proposal and call them theirs. Now I view it as a lost opportunity, but not completely lost. I have new plans to go ahead with my eco-tourism 2010 idea but it will now have to be as a for profit business under another business name with the marketing done under the banner 'Eco-tourism 2010'. I feel this makes it much more dificult to carry out my original good intent type of organization, but could still be a vehicle of oportunity for those that want to create an eco-tourism industry in Northern BC prior to the year 2010.
Time Will Tell