A new restaurant at the corner of Sunnyside and Seneca could be facing a legal challenge, according to a Carleton statement, which said they violated the use of the trademark ravens logo and word “ravens” owned by the university.
Ravens Soup & Sandwich opened its doors on Sept. 8 said co-owner of the restaurant, Sam Awad. The restaurant, he said, is a family business managed by himself, his brother, and his father.
Awad said the restaurant was approached on Sept. 16 by Ed Kane, assistant vice-president (university services).
“He said, ‘The name is going to have to change because people are going to think that you’re associated with the university,’ ” Awad said.
In response, Awad requested a legal statement be provided.
“We basically said unless they come with a court order, like a piece of paper saying we have to, we’re going to just leave it with how it is right now and wait and see what happens. Hopefully we hear something soon because we have flyers and business cards—all that we want to hand out,” he said.
Awad said they did draw inspiration from the school for the restaurant’s name.
“Ravens—we came up with the name. I mean we are really close to the university so we figured ‘Okay, why not,’ ” he said. “We figured having the name Ravens so close to the university, university kids are going to come and stop by and see what it was about.”
The restaurant’s decor itself is designed in black and red, paying homage to Ottawa colours, as donned by the Senators and Redblacks teams, Awad said.
As for the logo, Awad said that they made sure the bird was different from Carleton’s, and that a company had designed their posters and signs.
“We don’t feel like we are [associated with the university] because we’re selling food,” Awad said.
Customers have asked if the restaurant is affiliated with the university.
“Anybody that asks if we’re associated with them, we tell them no,” Awad said.
Awad said he never expected any issues to arise with the restaurant’s name because business registration with the city went smoothly.
“We went to the city and the city told us it was fine to take the name,” he said. “They registered our business and gave us our license and everything.”
The city is not responsible for researching trademarks, said Teresa Scassa, a law professor at the University of Ottawa.
“The city doesn’t do its own examination of trademark search. It’s up to the business to make sure it is legal and entitled to use that name,” she said.
The university does have the word “ravens” registered and the symbol as an official mark, according to an issued statement.
“They do have this official mark so they are entitled to bring in action under the Trade-marks Act to protect their rights and that mark,” she said.
The school can send a legal letter asserting their rights to the mark, Scassa said. And if the business refuses to change its name, the school could sue for infringement in the form of an injunction or by monetary damages.
“The restaurant is in violation of the trademark and we have advised the owners of this fact,” reads a statement from the university. “We are reviewing what further action needs to be taken to protect the university’s registered trademark.”
“I hope it doesn’t come to anything like we have to change the name, but if it does I mean, we can’t really do anything about it,” Awad said.
