The Supreme Court of Canada announced that it will be releasing its decision in Masterpiece Inc. v. Alavida Lifestyles Inc. on Thursday, May 26. The case is an appeal from the Federal Court of Appeal decision in 2009 FCA 290 and relates to the likelihood of confusion between trademarks.The Supreme Court’s summary of the proceeding is:

Whether the courts below erred in finding that there can be no likelihood of confusion between two trade-marks unless they are currently in competitive use in the same geographic area – Whether the courts below erred in finding that the likelihood of confusion between two trade-marks can be overcome by the manner in which one is actually used after the relevant date (i.e. by the “get-up” extraneous to the mark itself) – Whether the courts below erred in finding that there was no likelihood of confusion between the Respondent’s “Masterpiece Living” and the Masterpiece Inc. trade name and trade-marks in use prior to the relevant date, and whether the courts erred in refusing to order expungement.

More information about these and other intellectual property proceedings at the Supreme Court are available on the Supreme Court litigation page.