- Parties: The plaintiff was Leonard B. French. The defendant was the Royal Canadian Legion.

- Subject Matter: On June 8, 2020, under registration number 1170451, the plaintiff registered his copyright called the “Poppy Dalmatian Puppy” over a stuffed animal modelled after a Dalmatian dog with black-centered red poppies instead of the Dalmatian’s usual black spots. In 2003, the plaintiff supplied and licensed the Poppy Puppy to the defendant. The defendant purchased approximately 100,000 units of the small version and 50,000 units of the large version after the plaintiff agreed to modify minor elements of the Poppy Puppy. The plaintiff later brought a simplified action for copyright and moral rights infringement against the defendant. The plaintiff alleged that the defendant switched to an alternative supplier, induced that supplier to create and to supply Poppy Puppy toys, and thus infringed his copyright.

- Ruling: The court ruled in the defendant ’s favour and dismissed the plaintiff’s action. The court held that the defendant was shielded from the plaintiff’s copyright and moral rights infringement actions by operation of s. 64(2) of the Copyright Act, 1985.

- Date: The hearing was set on Apr. 12, 2023. The court released its decision on May 29, 2023.

- Venue: This was a federal case before the Federal Court.

- Amount: The court assessed costs in favor of the defendant in line with the defendant’s bill of costs at the lowest level units of column I of Tariff B.