In a major victory for international retailers such as Best Buy, Costco, Gap, and Wal-Mart, the Quebec Court of Appeal confirmed that the Charter of the French Language allows for the use of non-French trademarks on storefront or public signs and advertising in the province, so long as no equivalent French trademark has been registered.
A five-judge Court of Appeal panel held, without even hearing arguments from retailers or interveners, that the Charter and its regulations clearly allow the use of a trademark in a language other than French, even if the trademark name is being used as a business name.