Yellowknife (July 06/01) - The image of a polar bear will continue to be inscribed onto diamonds at Yellowknife's Sirius diamond cutting factory.

Polar Bear Diamonds are distinguished by a microscopic polar bear engraved on the girdle of each stone.

"No government can own an image of a thing or place," said Stephen Ben-Oliel, Sirius' president and founder. "You can't own images of the setting sun and you can't own images of a polar bear."

Last week a federal court refused a request by the Government of the Northwest Territories for an injunction that would have stopped Sirius from using a polar bear image on its diamonds.

The government filed its claim against the company's use of the insignia in May last year, alleging Sirius was infringing on its trademark ownership.

Sirius Diamonds Ltd. uses a laser to inscribe its logo, a polar bear, into its diamonds.

After case-related legal costs of over $100,000 Ben-Oliel is relieved the case is over. Several thousand of the bear-inscribed diamonds had already been released to market.

During the case, workers at the Sirius plant in Yellowknife continued to tattoo the gems with bears.

The Yellowknife factory employs about 30 people.

Federal Court Justice Delores Hansen handed down her decision based on the government's two main complaints; copyright infringement as well as damage and confusion regarding its own logo.

But prior to the case going to court, Sirius changed the original polar bear design to be different from the government's. The court was satisfied the two logos were unique from each other.

Ben-Oliel said publicity surrounding the case has served to advertise the gems but "some people said 'We're not going to buy from you until this issue is settled.' "

In its argument the government said it wanted to prevent Sirius from becoming the sole source of bear-inscribed diamonds.

"They wanted the polar bear to be on all Canadian diamonds," said Ben-Oliel.

The government is reviewing the court decision before moving toward an appeal.

"We are hoping to get together next week," said resource deputy minister Bob McLeod, who said he hopes to negotiate a better agreement with Sirius.

McLeod said the government hopes to block the diamond-cutting company from copyrighting the polar bear so that other diamond companies can also use the logo.

In December, last year, Sirius reported 21 diamonds worth $100,000 stolen when they failed to land in Vancouver.

Later in March of this year, a jeweller saw the polar bear etched in three diamonds. He called Sirius and a search turned up 14 more gems.