Canadian Tire loses fight to call itself 'crap'
In what must be one of the weirdest ever domain dispute cases, Canadian Tire
has lost the battle to extend its trademark to the words "crappy tire".
While "crap" would be taken by most people to denote a negative feeling,
Canadian Tire is having none of it and wanted WIPO to hand over
www.crappytire.com to it. Canadian Tire claims that in Canada it is
colloquially called Crappy Tire but this has become so ingrained that it no
longer means anything bad (it is an "impertinent reference" says the
company).
True as it may be, however, the law does not allow for trademarks to be
extended to entirely different words used in slang.
The company claimed that by owning the domain, Mick McFadden was "attempting
to create an impression of an association with Canadian Tire". Somewhat
unlikely since he uses the site to slag Canadian Tire off. In fact, later on
in the WIPO judgment, Canadian Tire indeed mentions that: "the Respondent
has used his website to make rude, untrue and libelous statements about
Canadian Tire".
But - and here's the catch - "in an attempt to force Canadian Tire to pay an
exorbitant sum of money for the transfer of the domain name in dispute".
Mick McFadden is having none of it. The judgement reads: "Respondent
inquires 'since when is the word "Canadian" interchangeable with or similar
to "crappy"'?" Fair point, Mick.
He also points out that if you tap "crappy tire" into Google, you'll get
6,380 results (as of 13 April this year anyway). Mick points out "vast
majority of returns were for references to 'tires' that were 'crappy' and
had nothing to do with Canadian Tire".
Do you get the feeling that Mick was loving every minute of this? Cause I
do.
Anyway, needless to say, WIPO dismissed the complaint and now Canadian Tire
has to live with the fact that it has no right to call itself "crappy". What
a blow to corporate confidence. ®
--
© Jon Down ®
http://www.stores.ebay.com/jdpowertoolcanada
Love it. Maybe they've come to an accomodation. Right now anyway, it's
showing a bad gateway when trying to load it.
"P©WÉ®T©©LMAN ²ºº3" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Canadian Tire loses fight to call itself 'crap'
> While "crap" would be taken by most people to denote a negative feeling,
> Canadian Tire is having none of it and wanted WIPO to hand over
> www.crappytire.com to it. Canadian Tire claims that in Canada it is
Gotta love that kind of crap.......err "shit"
Go.. Mike and God Love Ya
Fud
"P©WÉ®T©©LMAN ²ºº3" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Canadian Tire loses fight to call itself 'crap'
>
> In what must be one of the weirdest ever domain dispute cases, Canadian
Tire
> has lost the battle to extend its trademark to the words "crappy tire".
>
> While "crap" would be taken by most people to denote a negative feeling,
> Canadian Tire is having none of it and wanted WIPO to hand over
> www.crappytire.com to it. Canadian Tire claims that in Canada it is
> colloquially called Crappy Tire but this has become so ingrained that it
no
> longer means anything bad (it is an "impertinent reference" says the
> company).
>
> True as it may be, however, the law does not allow for trademarks to be
> extended to entirely different words used in slang.
>
> The company claimed that by owning the domain, Mick McFadden was
"attempting
> to create an impression of an association with Canadian Tire". Somewhat
> unlikely since he uses the site to slag Canadian Tire off. In fact, later
on
> in the WIPO judgment, Canadian Tire indeed mentions that: "the Respondent
> has used his website to make rude, untrue and libelous statements about
> Canadian Tire".
>
> But - and here's the catch - "in an attempt to force Canadian Tire to pay
an
> exorbitant sum of money for the transfer of the domain name in dispute".
>
> Mick McFadden is having none of it. The judgement reads: "Respondent
> inquires 'since when is the word "Canadian" interchangeable with or
similar
> to "crappy"'?" Fair point, Mick.
>
> He also points out that if you tap "crappy tire" into Google, you'll get
> 6,380 results (as of 13 April this year anyway). Mick points out "vast
> majority of returns were for references to 'tires' that were 'crappy' and
> had nothing to do with Canadian Tire".
>
> Do you get the feeling that Mick was loving every minute of this? Cause I
> do.
>
> Anyway, needless to say, WIPO dismissed the complaint and now Canadian
Tire
> has to live with the fact that it has no right to call itself "crappy".
What
> a blow to corporate confidence. ®
>
>
> --
> © Jon Down ®
> http://www.stores.ebay.com/jdpowertoolcanada
>
>
>
>
"Fuddzy" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> "P©WÉ®T©©LMAN ²ºº3" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> > Canadian Tire loses fight to call itself 'crap'
> >
> > In what must be one of the weirdest ever domain dispute cases, Canadian
> Tire
> > has lost the battle to extend its trademark to the words "crappy tire".
> >
> > While "crap" would be taken by most people to denote a negative feeling,
> > Canadian Tire is having none of it and wanted WIPO to hand over
> > www.crappytire.com to it. Canadian Tire claims that in Canada it is
> > colloquially called Crappy Tire but this has become so ingrained that it
> no
> > longer means anything bad (it is an "impertinent reference" says the
> > company).
> >
> > True as it may be, however, the law does not allow for trademarks to be
> > extended to entirely different words used in slang.
> >
> > The company claimed that by owning the domain, Mick McFadden was
> "attempting
> > to create an impression of an association with Canadian Tire". Somewhat
> > unlikely since he uses the site to slag Canadian Tire off. In fact,
later
> on
> > in the WIPO judgment, Canadian Tire indeed mentions that: "the
Respondent
> > has used his website to make rude, untrue and libelous statements about
> > Canadian Tire".
> >
> > But - and here's the catch - "in an attempt to force Canadian Tire to
pay
> an
> > exorbitant sum of money for the transfer of the domain name in dispute".
> >
> > Mick McFadden is having none of it. The judgement reads: "Respondent
> > inquires 'since when is the word "Canadian" interchangeable with or
> similar
> > to "crappy"'?" Fair point, Mick.
> >
> > He also points out that if you tap "crappy tire" into Google, you'll get
> > 6,380 results (as of 13 April this year anyway). Mick points out "vast
> > majority of returns were for references to 'tires' that were 'crappy'
and
> > had nothing to do with Canadian Tire".
> >
> > Do you get the feeling that Mick was loving every minute of this? Cause
I
> > do.
> >
> > Anyway, needless to say, WIPO dismissed the complaint and now Canadian
> Tire
> > has to live with the fact that it has no right to call itself "crappy".
> What
> > a blow to corporate confidence. ®
> >
> > © Jon Down ®
>
> > Gotta love that kind of crap.......err "shit"
>
> Go.. Mike and God Love Ya
>
> Fud
The hardest thing to come to grips with these days is which Tim Hortons to
stop at on the way to Canadian Tire.....& then you have to decide all over
again on the way back. Here in Collingwood, Ontario, we have Three Tim
Hortons & a clapped out Crappy Tire, being a small town we have to get used
to driving across town only to find that the seasonally current item or the
sale item from their flyer is out of stock because the Mis-manager didn't
think it would sell even though the Corporations head office & the less
important general public feels otherwise.
Unbelievably they are in the process of building a massive flagship Canadian
Tire to replace the current 'Crappy' one at the other side of town, I'm told
it comes complete with new Owner / Managers, but what about the tired & lazy
old staff....can they be re-trained to perform even the moderate customer
service tasks??? We'll see.
Funny how Tim Hortons has to keep up though, they are building one of those
drive through only Island type coffee shops in the opposite corner of
town.....oh well & round trip will enable us to stop at two Tim Hortons on
the way to the new Crappy tire & two completely different ones on the way
back...beauty Eh? Only in Canada....LOL...never mind the coffee numbs the
pain.
--
© Jon Down ®
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