Go Ad Free

Daniel Tate of IntegrityTO received a cease-and-desist letter on February 27 regarding merchandise being sold on his website. The T-shirt in question features the Yonge-Dundas Square logo that was used by the city before it was renamed Sankofa Square.

Tate is the executive director of IntegrityTO, a civic advocacy group in Toronto, and is outspoken on many issues affecting the city.

According to the group’s website, all net proceeds from the Yonge-Dundas T-shirt will be donated to the Daily Bread Food Bank.

Internal documents uncovered by the Toronto Sun indicate emails from staff in the office of Councillor Chris Moise, requesting updates on the situation and noting that the merchandise is still being sold.

The director of communications and media relations for Moise stated that the councillor’s office is not being kept in the loop and that the matter is being handled entirely by city staff.

Full statement:

“Our understanding is that this is still an ongoing legal dispute between the City and a corporation, which means that it would be inappropriate for anyone other than City Staff to comment in order to allow this process to play out fairly.

For background information and context, Councillor Moise is an ex officio member of the Sankofa Square Board, and he and our office basically serve as their point of contact with the City.  Even though the Square’s Board and staff are responsible for taking actions and making operational decisions in the Square’s best interests, intellectual property such as past and present logos are owned by the City, and ultimately it’s the City that has to take legal action in the event of misuse, misappropriation, or infringement.

Our office can confirm on the record that these clear-cut instances of trademark and IP infringement were first noticed by the Square’s Board, and all communications and update requests from our office were initiated on behalf of the Board at the Board’s behest.  We can additionally confirm that this matter is being coordinated and run entirely by City Staff, and we are not kept in the loop – as it should be.”

Councillor Moise has been firm in his support of renaming the square, which the city says is intended to right past wrongs.

The T-shirts remain available on the IntegrityTO website.