| GLBT magazine in fight with Herald over name Swerve
The Calgary Herald is in a trademark dispute with a Winnipeg-based gay and lesbian publication over the name of its weekly lifestyle magazine.
The Calgary Herald has been publishing Swerve since November. However, that is also the name of a GLBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered) magazine out of Winnipeg, which has been in operation for more than 10 years.
The Calgary Herald applied to trademark the name last fall, and the Winnipeg publication is fighting the application.
Richard Wood, editor of Swerve in Winnipeg, says his organization didn’t trademark the name because it couldn’t afford to.
"When we did look at it, at the time, which was a few years ago, we were actually on the verge of bankruptcy. So it was brought up, we looked at it and said, well, we don’t have the money for this, so we’ll have to revisit it later," says Wood.
In an e-mail to Fast Forward, Calgary Herald publisher Peter Menzies says that earlier in negotiations, Winnipeg’s Swerve offered not to contest the Herald’s trademark application if given "a very large sum of money." Menzies adds that he doesn’t have a problem with Wood continuing to publish his magazine under the same name in Winnipeg.
"We have no interest whatsoever in launching Swerve in Winnipeg and were quite comfortable with Mr. Wood publishing under that title in Winnipeg, so declined that offer (to buy the name). We do not compete on the web and have made that clear, too," says Menzies.
Wood says his publication isn’t ready to give up the trademark because that would limit its distribution to Winnipeg.
"We want to be able to expand the magazine and I predict in the future we will not just be limited to Manitoba in terms of the scope of our content," says Wood. "I think after 10 years we’ve established ourselves as the voice of the Manitoba gay and lesbian community, and we’ve worked hard to define that brand and make it identifiable, and to just give it up because the other side has more money or more lawyers, it just cheapens us, really."
Menzies says the Herald is confident in the strength of its moral and legal positions. "If Mr. Wood had serious plans to expand into other markets, most publishers would have expected him to trademark the name, but he obviously never did," he says.
The trademark dispute is now before the Canadian Intellectual Property Office for review. It could take up to two years for the body to make a decision.
Union drive at Alberta Ballet
Administrative staff at Alberta Ballet will vote August 15 on whether to unionize by joining CUPE (Canadian Union of Public Employees).
"There’s a lot of concern amongst the employees about the direction that the board and management is taking at the ballet and treatment of staff," says CUPE spokesperson Martin d’Entremont. "Temperatures are running a little high over there."
Alberta Ballet chairperson Larry Clausen says the last year has been very difficult for staff because Alberta Ballet was forced out of its usual home at the Jubilee Auditorium during renovations. Clausen says he’s "disappointed" employees feel the need to unionize.
"It surprises me there was as much discontent as what appears to be driving these employees to make this decision," he says. "When this kind of thing happens, it leads me to believe there’s something organizational that needs to be addressed."
Alberta Ballet has also recently lost its executive director, Ann Lewis, who resigned at the end of July. Clausen says the organization hopes to replace Lewis by mid-September. |
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