ALEXANDRIA, VA — Travel Leaders Group, LLC has won the right to use the Travel Leaders trademark in Canada.

The win is a major victory for the company, and caps a six-year legal battle.

The news comes as Travel Leaders Network wraps up its annual EDGE conference, taking place this week in Nashville. Some 1,700 TLN members, staff and supplier partners are in attendance, with events at the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center.

In a decision handed down March 8, the Federal Court of Canada determined that the Travel Leaders trademark registration, owned by an Ontario numbered company since 2011, had been abandoned and should be cancelled.

“We’re extremely gratified by the court’s decision,” said Roger E. Block, President, Travel Leaders Network. “This is a tremendous win for our company. Our brand is vitally important to us, and we’ve invested a great deal of time and energy defending it. We’ve already spoken to our Canadian members, and they’re excited to start using the full official Travel Leaders Network name.”

Travel Leaders Group, a division of Internova Travel Group, has filed new applications in Canada for the Travel Leaders trademark and has a pending application for the Travel Leaders Network trademark. Out of an abundance of caution, Travel Leaders Group will not be adopting the trademark in Canada until the decision is final. The Ontario numbered company has sought an extension of time to file an appeal but has failed to retain counsel and is unlikely to be allowed to proceed without counsel.

Travel Leaders Network expects to issue a further update once the appeal motion is resolved. In the meantime, the ability to use the Travel Leaders brand name in Canada has been granted by the court in unequivocal terms. Planning is underway to use the single Travel Leaders brand throughout North America in the future.