Nothing sweet about sales of grey-market candy, Appeal Court rules
TORONTO — An attempt at sugar coating the sale of grey market Mars bars and M&M’s in Canada has fallen flat with Ontario’s top court, which sided with the Canadian maker of the candy in a decision slamming an upstart confectioner’s conduct.
The ruling in favour of Mars Canada this week also upheld a lower court judge’s hefty costs award against Aizic Ebert and his two Toronto companies for “brazenly” breaching earlier settlements of the dispute.
“Their efforts to undermine the agreements were dishonourable and deserving of censure,” the Appeal Court said in its ruling, noting, however, that the state of Canadian law around grey marketing remains unsettled.
The case arose more than a decade ago when Mars Canada, which also makes and sells Snickers and Milky Way candy bars among other treats, discovered Ebert was buying genuine Mars products in the United States through his company Bemco Cash and Carry, and selling them at a discount in this country.