Rai v Meta Platforms, Inc., 2024 BCSC 1408
0000-00-00
Read full decision. Summary prepared by Alan Macek:
The defendants apply for an order striking the plaintiff’s notice of civil claim ... the plaintiff registered a trademark for the name “Bobby Dazzler”, with a specific font, with the Registrar of Trademarks. She says that she operates a business on the website bobbydazzler.guru under the pseudonym “Bobby Dazzler”. The plaintiff asserts she has a copyright in the name “Bobby Dazzler” under the registration number 1053796. The defendants say that, according to the Canadian Copyright Database, the plaintiff’s registered copyright is in the literary work entitled, “Bobby Dazzler ‘got what’s hot!’ and still hot!” and not simply the name “Bobby Dazzler”. ... In essence, the plaintiff is asserting that she owns the trademark to the name “Bobby Dazzler” and that by emailing her at bobbydazzler@shaw.ca this is in breach of her Trademark. ... it is clear that there is no reasonable claim in breach of trademark against the defendants for sending correspondence to an email address that includes the name “bobbydazzler”. ... I agree that the plaintiff has not plead any viable claim for copyright infringement. The use of the name in emails sent to her or the use of the name by other individuals of Facebook is clearly not a copyright infringement.