Mecca Ointment is the product name of a first aid ointment used for the temporary relief of pain and/or itching associated with minor burns, sunburn, minor cuts, scrapes, insect bites and for the temporary protection of minor skin irritations. The formulation contains the medicinal ingredients Phenol 0.5%, Camphor 0.5% and Zinc Oxide 1.25%. Mecca Ointment is currently available for sale in Canada.
Analytic chemist Albert D. Foster created the formula for Mecca Compound in 1898. [1] Foster was one of the founders of the Foster-Dack Company (Chicago), the original producers of Mecca Ointment. The Foster-Dack Co. first sold Mecca Ointment in the United States in the later part of the 19th and early 20th century. Mecca Ointment was introduced into Canada in the early 20th century. The Canadian office and manufacturing facility of Foster-Dack was located at 337 King St. W. in Toronto, Ontario. Mecca Ointment was also available in England and Scotland in the early 20th century. [2]
The Foster-Dack Co. was the proprietor of Mecca Ointment until it sold all the intellectual property rights in connection with Mecca Ointment to The Mentholatum Company of Orchard Park, New York, USA, which continued to manufacture and sell Mecca Ointment until 2004. [3] On February 8, 2011, Vintage Brands Ltd. acquired all the intellectual property rights in connection with Mecca Ointment from The Mentholatum Company. [4]
1888 Albert D. Foster was a practicing analytic chemist and pharmacist at his drug store in Council Bluffs, Iowa. He invented a medicinal ointment that he prescribed and sold to homes. [5]
1898 Albert D. Foster opened a laboratory in Chicago, Illinois, US, to produce Mecca Ointment, sometime around or before 1898. The US office was located at 3148 Cottage Grove in Chicago, Illinois. [6]
1907 On January 18, 1907, the Foster-Dack Company was incorporated in Canada. [7] The Canadian office was located at 337 King St. W. in Toronto, Ontario. [8]
1920 The Foster-Dack Co. published an information pamphlet entitled "Mecca Ointment - The Household Remedy." An original copy of this pamphlet is archived in the Patent Medicine Collection of the Health Sciences Library at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. [9]
1921 "Mecca Compound" was registered as a trademark with the United States Patent and Trade Office (USPTO) by the Foster-Dack Company. [10]
1922 On February 24, 1922, the Mecca trademark was registered in Canada by the Foster-Dack Company. [11]
1929 On December 7, 1929, the Foster-Dack Company of Chicago incorporated. The shareholders were A.D. Foster; his three daughters, Alice Foster McKesson, Jessica Foster and Grace Foster; Eugene W. Peterson Sr.; and Eugene W. Peterson Jr. [12]
1970 The Foster-Dack Company Ltd. was dissolved on March 10, 1970. [13]
1972 In February 1972, the Canadian trademark for Mecca was transferred to The Mentholatum Company. [14]
2011 On February 8, 2011, Vintage Brands Ltd. acquired all intellectual property rights connected to the Mecca Ointment product from The Mentholatum Company. [15]
Trade secrets are a type of intellectual property that includes formulas, practices, processes, designs, instruments, patterns, or compilations of information that have inherent economic value because they are not generally known or readily ascertainable by others, and which the owner takes reasonable measures to keep secret. Intellectual property law gives the owner of a trade secret the right to restrict others from disclosing it. In some jurisdictions, such secrets are referred to as confidential information.
In common law countries such as the United Kingdom, the Philippines and New Zealand, passing off is a common law tort which can be used to enforce unregistered trade mark rights. The tort of passing off protects the goodwill of a trader from misrepresentation.
Canadian trademark law provides protection to marks by statute under the Trademarks Act and also at common law. Trademark law provides protection for distinctive marks, certification marks, distinguishing guises, and proposed marks against those who appropriate the goodwill of the mark or create confusion between different vendors' goods or services. A mark can be protected either as a registered trademark under the Act or can alternately be protected by a common law action in passing off.
A moron in a hurry is a phrase that has been used in legal cases, especially in the UK, involving trademark infringement and passing off. Where one party alleges that another has infringed their intellectual property rights by offering for sale a product that is confusingly similar to their own, the court has to decide whether a reasonable person would be misled by the defendant's trademark or the get-up of their product. It has been held that "if only a moron in a hurry would be misled" the case is not made out. Although this formulation addresses only fairly extreme instances of confusibility, and says nothing about less clear examples, the phrase is sometimes referred to as a "test".
Rohto Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. is a multinational fast-moving consumer goods and pharmaceutical corporation headquartered in Ikuno-ku, Osaka, Japan, with a presence in North America, Europe and Asia. The company is listed on the stock exchange having posted steady increases in revenues from ¥95,619 million in 2006 to ¥120,292 million in 2011. Skin Care contributes to 61.3% of the revenues while Eye Care contributes to 21% of their sales.
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Kelly Kettle, Storm Kettle, Ghillie Kettle, Thermette, Survival Kettle and Volcano Kettle are trade names for portable devices for boiling water outdoors using twigs and other small combustible materials; these devices consist of a water jacket surrounding a fire chamber which creates an upward chimney draft ensuring efficient and rapid boiling even in windy or wet weather.
The Mentholatum Company, Inc. is a maker of non-prescription health care products founded in 1889 by Albert Alexander Hyde in the United States. It was bought out by Rohto Pharmaceutical Co., a Japanese health care company, in 1988. The Mentholatum Company is known for its top three products, Mentholatum Ointment, Mentholatum Deep Heating Rub, and Mentholatum Lip Care. The Mentholatum Building in Buffalo, New York was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2017.
Scams in intellectual property include scams in which inventors and other rights holders are lured to pay money for an apparently official registration of their intellectual property, or for professional development and promotion of their ideas, but do not receive the expected services.
Canadian patent law is the legal system regulating the granting of patents for inventions within Canada, and the enforcement of these rights in Canada.
The Forest Products Association of Canada (FPAC) is a trade association which represents Canada's wood, pulp and paper producers both nationally and internationally in government, trade, and environmental affairs. Canada's forest products industry is an $80 billion a year industry that represents 2% of Canada's GDP.
Showcase is a North American retail company specializing in emerging trends in health, beauty, home, and toys, and the winner of Canada's Best Managed Companies for 2021. There are 117 locations in major malls across Canada and the Northeastern USA, an e-commerce portal called ShopAtShowcase.com, and plans to expand rapidly across the US.
Willis & Co. is a piano manufacturer, formerly founded in 1884 by Alexander Parker Willis and based in Landshut, Bavaria, Germany. A retailer of Willis & Co. in Canada was sold by the Willis family in 1967, and went out of business in 1979. The global branch was merged with the Landshut Willis company in Germany.
Trademark infringement is a violation of the exclusive rights attached to a trademark without the authorization of the trademark owner or any licensees. Infringement may occur when one party, the "infringer", uses a trademark which is identical or confusingly similar to a trademark owned by another party, in relation to products or services which are identical or similar to the products or services which the registration covers. An owner of a trademark may commence civil legal proceedings against a party which infringes its registered trademark. In the United States, the Trademark Counterfeiting Act of 1984 criminalized the intentional trade in counterfeit goods and services.
Canadian intellectual property law governs the regulation of the exploitation of intellectual property in Canada. Creators of intellectual property gain rights either by statute or by the common law. Intellectual property is governed both by provincial and federal jurisdiction, although most legislation and judicial activity occur at the federal level.
A patent holder in Canada has the exclusive right, privilege and liberty to making, constructing, using and selling the invention for the term of the patent, from the time the patent is granted. Any person who does any of these acts in relation to an invention without permission of the patent owner is liable for patent infringement.
In Canadian patent law, only “inventions” are patentable. Under the Patent Act, only certain categories of things may be considered and defined as inventions. Therefore, if a patent discloses an item that fulfills the requirements of novelty, non-obviousness and utility, it may nonetheless be found invalid on the grounds that it does not fall within one of the statutory categories of “invention”. Since the Patent Act, the categories of patentable subject matter have been defined and interpreted by Canadian courts.
In Canada, trade secrets are generally considered to include information set out, contained or embodied in, but not limited to, a formula, pattern, plan, compilation, computer program, method, technique, process, product, device or mechanism; it may be information of any sort; an idea of a scientific nature, or of a literary nature, as long as they grant an economical advantage to the business and improve its value. Additionally, there must be some element of secrecy. Matters of public knowledge or of general knowledge in an industry cannot be the subject-matter of a trade secret.
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Zam-Buk is a patent medicine which was produced by the Zam-Buk Company of Leeds, England, founded by Charles Edward Fulford. It was first sold by his Bile Beans company in 1902, as a herbal balm and antiseptic ointment; the use of a complementary Zam-Buk soap was recommended to augment the treatment. The ointment was advertised as being effective against a wide range of conditions, including cuts, bruises, sprains, ulcers, bleeding piles and even colds and toothache. It could also be used as an embrocation by rubbing it into the muscles of the back, legs or feet.