The Federal Court of Canada ordered a defendant to pay compensatory damages of $10,000 based on 10 instances of online infringement. The Court assessed damages to the plaintiff’s goodwill at $1,000 per instance because this amount reflected the “scope and scale of the [defendant’s] enterprise”. The Court reviewed earlier case law where compensatory damages were awarded at $8,000 per instance but considered that amount disproportionate in this case. This is the second decision in a year where the $1,000 per instance award has been considered reasonable. However, the Court was clear that it is not “fixing a new standard that applies to all on-line sales” and the result in the case was a fact driven exercise. The Court also awarded $30,000 in punitive damages and an injunction.
Louis Vuitton Malletier v. Sheine Reyes Rosales, 2023 FC 217