Celebrating World IP Day 2026

For World IP Day 2026, we connected with members of our Trademarks team for a short interview, reflecting on this year’s theme from the World Intellectual Property Organization – IP and Sports: Ready, Set, Innovate. 

William Audet, Jamie-Lynn Kraft and François Larose shared their thoughts on the role intellectual property, and more specifically, trademarks and copyright issues, plays in the sports industry. 

Interview has been lightly edited for style and clarity. 

What role does intellectual property play in the sports industry? 

François: As with any other industry, businesses need brands to distinguish themselves. The difference is that sporting brands, namely teams, have a higher emotional value—not too many people get excited for toothpaste, but people get very passionate about their favourite sports team. Sometimes, fans in businesses get carried away and use certain brand elements, whether for fun or to support their favourite team to promote the business, which unfortunately can dilute the value of the original brand. It’s therefore important to protect and enforce these brands, and we can help brands protect their distinctiveness. 

What challenges do athletic franchises and athletes face in protecting their intellectual property, and how can those challenges be addressed? 

Jamie-Lynn: A big challenge we see is when a franchise is about to announce an expansion team and they need to choose a new name. There’s always a lot of buzz and excitement surrounding the possibility of a new team, but the new team's name should be something that not only resonates with fans and the city, but which can be protected by IP rights. I’ve anecdotally heard stories where new sports franchises have filed an application to register their new team name only to receive an objection from the Trademarks Office.   

Enforcement is also a perennial issue. It can feel overwhelming, so it’s important to have a strategy in place from the start. As a trademark owner, there’s an obligation to protect the trademark from being used without authorization, because then what can happen is you can lose “distinctiveness”, which could invalidate your rights.  

Sometimes, the enforcement activities can feel like whack-a-mole, and you must be strategic in how you direct your enforcement efforts. It’s important to have a rubric in place to decide the biggest priorities. 

François: I think another challenge is use of the trademarks by fans in association with their business, that I mentioned. Fans want to support their team, but they don't realize that there's a distinction between personal support as an individual versus as a business using certain trademarked elements in promotion. You risk angering your fans by saying, “you can't use my trademarks”. Sometimes fans can hold a grudge, and it might result in negative PR, but like Jamie-Lynn mentioned, trademark owners have an obligation to protect their trademarks from unauthorized use. 

How do IP professionals help enforce the IP rights of their sports industry clients? 

William: When we identify a counterfeiter, we use several approaches to address the issue. Our first step is usually to contact the infringer directly and explain the situation, which works most of the time. We send cease-and-desist letters and take many actions short of court proceedings. For example, social media takedowns are a very powerful tool. When infringers refuse to comply, we’ve had Facebook and Instagram accounts taken down before—and in this day and age, losing Instagram can be extremely damaging for a restaurant, for example. 

Jamie-Lynn: IP professionals can be key at every stage of the branding process. They should be brought in at the earliest opportunity when an organization is clearing the brand name, because they can help develop a strategy for selecting a strong enforceable trademark and developing a filing strategy which can help to maximize those licensing rights. 

François: As in any other industry, we protect trademarks and we enforce their trademarks. And if someone is using a trademark without authorization or otherwise misleading customers into believing that there is a connection with the team of the league, we can enforce our clients’ trademark rights, ranging from a courteous phone call to initiating court actions. 

How do brands and teams prevent “ambush marketing,” especially around marquee tournaments? 

William: Ahead of big events, at clients’ requests, we’ll contact local business organizations and inform them what could potentially be considered as an intellectual property violation. We’ll do online and in-person monitoring—we'll patrol streets looking for counterfeit goods. We try to catch violations early on and act on them very quickly. 

The preceding is intended as a timely update on Canadian intellectual property and technology law. The content is informational only and does not constitute legal or professional advice. To obtain such advice, please communicate with our offices directly.