ANGEL RONAN SLRP with the Toshokan ™ Law Centre: Litigation, Consulting and Management.

    Caribana trademark lawsuit settled The Caribana Arts Group settles a lawsuit against the Festival Management Committee and Scotiabank. May 14, 2014 2 min read Save Knia Singh, right, chair of the Caribana Arts Group, and board member Henry Gomez speak at a news conference Wednesday announcing the settlement of a trademark infringement lawsuit. PATTY WINSA / TORONTO STAR By  Patty Winsa Data Reporter The Toronto community organization that founded Caribana has settled an $800,000 trademark infringement lawsuit against Scotiabank and the Festival Management Committee (FMC), which now runs the event, for an undisclosed amount. The Caribana Arts Group launched the suit in 2011, alleging the bank and FMC violated the trademark when it “named and advertised the festival as the ‘Scotiabank Caribana Festival,’ ” beginning in 2008. Despite repeated requests by the group, according to a statement of claim, the committee continued to use the  trademarked name  even aft...

 

 

 

For now, just call it the festival formerly known as Caribana. Toronto’s massive mid-summer Caribbean celebration is being renamed. Last Thursday, the Ontario Superior Court ruled that it can no longer use the name Caribana because it is trademarked by a group that founded the festival, but no longer runs it. “There is no change to the festival,” said Chris Alexander, chief administrative officer of the Festival Management Committee, which has run Caribana for the past five years. “The only thing that has changed is the name. “And people will still call it that.” But behind the Caribana name change, there’s an ongoing struggle for control over the massively popular celebration. In 2006, the city and province cut funding to Caribana after organizers failed to produce adequate financial statements. Control was transferred from the Caribbean Cultural Committee (CCC), which started the festival in 1967, to the newly created Festival Management Committee (FMC...