- Parties: The applicant was Kiva Health Brands. The respondents were Associated Citrus Packers Inc and Limoneira Company.

- Subject Matter: The applicant brought an expungement proceeding involving the trademark “KIVA” under ss. 45 and 56 of the Trademarks Act, 1985. The Trademarks Opposition Board decided to maintain the registration. The applicant filed a statutory appeal to challenge the Board’s decision. The issues were whether the owner used the trademark during the relevant period and whether the Board erred by taking at face value a change in title, made in the register, after a s. 45 notice was sent to the registered owner.

- Ruling: The court ruled in the applicant’s favour, set aside the Board’s decision, and remitted the expungement proceeding to the Board for a new determination by a different member. The court held that the Board’s member erred by failing to properly assess the alleged assignment of rights in the KIVA trademark registered after the s. 45 notice was sent. The court also decided to disregard the impugned evidence. The court found that, even if this evidence was admissible, its relevance would be limited to contradicting the claim that Associated Citrus had assigned its right in the KIVA U.S. trademark in favour of Limoneira in September 2013.

- Date: The hearing was set on Mar. 1, 2023. The court released its decision on June 2, 2023.

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

- Amount: No financial award was specified.