USING COPYRIGHT LAW TO PREVENT PARALLEL IMPORTATION: A COMMENT ON KRAFT CANADA, INC. V. EURO EXCELLENCE, INC.

Abstract

In Kraft Canada, Inc. v. Euro Excellence, Inc., the Federal Court of Appeal ruled that the secondary infringement provisions of the Copyright Act could be used to prevent the parallel importation into Canada of chocolate bars, due to copyrights in the trade-mark logos on the product labels. The effect of this decision, currently on appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada, is to give trade-mark holders a tool to prevent parallel importation in contexts where trade-mark law has generally been ineffective. While the use of copyright law to achieve a result in these circumstances is problematic, the author argues that the solution lies in legislative amendment rather than in creative interpretations of the Copyright Act.