Uproar after Pride Toronto attempts to trademark "Dyke March"

When organizations seek to trademark certain commonly used words, many are left angry or confused. That's what happened after Pride Toronto submitted applications to trademark the phrases "Trans* Pride" and "Dyke March" on July 8.

In response, the Vancouver Dyke March released a statement on Saturday night against this move to trademark a phrase used across Canada and around the world by "radical, fiercely independent, grassroots organizations."

Some took to social media asking Pride Toronto's director Mathieu Chantelois why his organization wanted ownership over these words. According to a statement posted to Pride Toronto's website, the organization sought to trademark these terms in order to block another individual from trademarking them.

@megfenway We blocked an individual who tried to trademarked it. We will remove the trademark as soon as we find a solution to stop it.

— Mathieu Chantelois (@MChantelois) July 17, 2015

In the coming days, Pride Toronto will work towards removing these trademark applications and have since reached out to the Vancouver Dyke March.

.@PrideToronto has contacted us and expressed that they will not be seeking the ownership of the "dyke march" trademark. More later...

— vancouver dyke march (@dyke_march) July 19, 2015

Do you think terms like Dyke March should allowed to be trademarked? Let us know in the comments.