CARIBANA™ Will Not Be Renamed – 2011 Festival in Serious Doubt

Put your plans on hold as CARIBANA™ 2011 is in serious doubt.  The CARIBANA™ ARTS GROUP (CAG), festival owners, founders and trademark holders of CARIBANA™ have not been able to reach an agreement with the Festival Management Committee (FMC), after numerous attempts, causing this year’s festival to be in doubt.

Sponsors are advised to withhold committing to contracts with the unauthorized manager of the festival as an injunction to stop the FMC in its tracks from attempting to rename the festival created and owned by the CCC (now CAG) is pending before the Ontario Superior Court of Justice.

Contrary to perception, the court did not order a name change for the Caribana Festival. At a hearing on May 12th, 2011, the court made it clear that the Caribana trademark cannot be used by the Festival Management Committee.  The ruling says, in part: R (Respondent) "will no longer use the trademark ‘Caribana’.”  It (FMC) “consents to an order preventing such use."  The CAG, creators and owners of the festival, did not seek to withdraw use of the Caribana name for the Festival. The idea to change the name was introduced by the FMC in a desperate attempt to circumvent CAG’s legal rights.

The judge’s decision was only part of an application by CAG to protect its trademark which includes the Caribana Festival. The proceedings to bar the FMC from attempting to re-name the festival are to continue in court as early as May 31^st 2011.  Changing the name of the festival is a desperate attempt by the FMC to avoid coming to mutually agreeable terms with the CAG.

Henry Gomez, Chair of the CARIBANA™ ARTS GROUP advises, “Sponsors and patrons who pay for costumes in the masquerade bands should be very cautious about putting their money into a festival that might not happen this year, and bandleaders should also be cautious about promised seed money.”  He also stated, "Neither should they be aiding in the attempted theft of the Caribana Festival from our community, to profit a few individuals."

In keeping with the judge’s ruling, the CAG will return to court at month’s end with the details necessary to have an injunction which will prevent the FMC from holding a festival with the characteristics of Caribana on the Simcoe Day weekend.

 About CARIBANA™ ARTS GROUP (CAG):

CARIBANA™ ARTS GROUP (CAG), formerly known as the Caribbean Cultural Committee (CCC) was incorporated in 1967 as the Caribbean Committee for Cultural Advancement for the purpose of celebrating Canada’s Centennial. The CAG is the legal owner of the CARIBANA™ Festival and Trade Mark and is chaired by Henry Gomez.  In 2006, the City of Toronto appointed the Festival Management Committee to manage the CARIBANA™ Festival for one year only.  FMC was intended to be the management arm of the CARIBANA organization, but wants to report directly to the City of Toronto, and not acknowledge CAG as the legal owners of the Festival.

COURT ORDERS FMC TO STOP USING THE CARIBANA™ Trademark

The Ontario Superior Court Of Justice issued an Order on Thursday, May 12^th, 2011 forbidding the Festival Management Committee (FMC) from using the Trademark CARIBANA™ with immediate effect.

The ruling was handed down in response to an injunction sought by the CARIBANA™ ARTS GROUP (CAG), the owners of the CARIBANA™ Festival and trademark.  The FMC has been temporarily managing the festival since 2006, based on an agreement brokered by the City of Toronto between the CAG and the FMC that expired December 31^st 2006.  As a result of the court order the FMC has been forced to shut down the website, www.caribanafestival.com.

CAG chairman Henry Gomez states assertively: "It is the Caribbean Cultural Committee (CCC) now CAG that has conceptualized, nurtured, managed and produced the internationally recognized CARIBANA™ Festival for 39 years.  It is also the CCC, a not for profit volunteer organization, that transformed this Carnival Arts extravaganza into a

financial juggernaut that benefits the City of Toronto and the Province of Ontario."

The Board of Directors of the CARIBANA™ ARTS GROUP (CAG) has made innumerable attempts to negotiate and work with the FMC over the last five years, but the FMC reacted with intransigence and hubris.  The CAG was left with no other option but to seek injunctive relief from the Ontario Superior Court of Justice.

The CAG remains open to signing a Trademark Licence and Management Agreement with the FMC for 2011 that respects the rights of the CAG as the owner of the CARIBANA™ Festival and Marks.

The CARIBANA™ Festival was created in 1967 as the Caribbean contribution to Canada's Centennial celebrations. The CARIBANA™ AGM will be held this Saturday May 21, 2011 at Metro Hall, 55 John Street, Room 314, from 1:00p.m. - 3:30p.m.