A Diet to Die For! Breast Cancer in Canada.

Buying a Pink Ribbon in Canada Could Cause a Legal Battle.

When I bought my prosthetic on Monday, the presentation folder they provided me contained a pink ribbon magnet. I mentioned to the owner that she could have them customized with her store name through my affiliated printing company. She then asked a very strange question – does she have to pay a licensing fee or some other fee to use the pink ribbon? She said she’s been hounded by the Breast Cancer Foundation to remove the pink ribbon in her store window — she sells post mastectomy products and even has annual fundraisers in her store for the cause.

That question took me by surprise — I told her that it’s likely considered public domain since it’s an international symbol, but said I would try to look it up online to see if the license or trade mark has any teeth here in Canada.

According to Wikipedia, the answer is yes, the pink ribbon is trade marked in Canada — what? How on earth could our Patent and Trade-mark office allow such a mark to be registered? Someone was sure sleeping at the wheel during the application process if it’s true.

Susan, the store owner, called me back the next day to say that the company who provided the free pink ribbon magnet does indeed pay a fee to use it.

Am I the only one that thinks this is so wrong?

I checked the Canadian trade-marks database and the Canadian Breast Foundation in Toronto has an application. The details are:

If you find this trade-mark in poor judgement, I encourage you to write to CIPO and Gowling’s, the Agent for the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation.

I haven’t found any information [yet] about paying any fees in Canada to use the international symbol for breast cancer [dare I say pink ribbon here] … I’m sure I will shortly though.

According to Wikipedia, it was the Susan G. Komen Foundation in NYC that handed out pink ribbons for their first run for the cure in 1991. I sure hope someone from their organization raises a big stink over the Canadian organization trying to claim this international symbol of breast cancer as their own. Here is an article at Medscape Today to what appears to be the story of the Pink Ribbon’s earliest known use.

Upon further reading, it appears that you cannot trade-mark a colour, which makes sense, and there are numerous charities using a ribbon as a symbol, so the trade-mark in Canada can’t have much teeth if they were taken to task.

I believe the issue arises if a statement such as “buy from ABC123 store and a percentage of proceeds will be donated to the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation”. It’s this kind of statement that implies a relationship between the retail store and the charity, and that’s perhaps when some sort of fee is imposed on the retailer, or the retailer needs “permission” from the charitable organization to make such a claim. Now that makes sense. This ensures that there is no potential for fraudulent use of any implied relationship.

Ok, I get it … but the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation really should pick their battles more wisely, especially if they don’t see their name beside a pink ribbon.

I think I’ll donate my money to the US breast cancer organization who’ll probably appreciate it more … and I think I’ll put a pink ribbon on my personal cheques … I am a breast cancer patient afterall and hopefully not inviting a lawsuit against me.

Hopefully people reading this realize I don’t plan on boycotting pink ribbons: that would be even more foolish.