Corporate Knights magazine challenges Maclean's over "best corporate citizen" issue

[This post has been updated]The respected magazine Corporate Knights is accusing Maclean's magazine of poaching one of its signature ideas -- an annual directory of Canada's best corporate citizens. With his tongue only partly in his cheek, editor Toby Heaps of Corporate Knights has challenged Maclean's publisher and editor-in-chief Ken Whyte to a public debate.

In a release, Heaps said that the cover story in the current Maclean's -- "Canada's 50 best corporate citizens" -- is being distributed with a cover date on exactly the same date of June 22 that is the date CK distributes its 8th annual "Best 50 Corporate Citizens in Canada" to 95,500 subscribers of the Globe and Mail across the country. (The cover shown is the 2008 issue).

"While we welcome newcomers to the corporate responsibility realm, it's unfortunate that Maclean's seems to have taken a run at our market share by using a trademark that is, in our considered opinion, confusing with our distinctive trademark," said Mr. Heaps.

"The good news," said Mr. Heaps, "is that concern about this confusion, shared by many eminent Canadians*, presents an excellent chance, at a time of economic and ecological upheaval, for Ken Whyte and I to flesh out for the Canadian public, what exactly is a good corporate citizen, and how one goes about defining one."

The release said that eminent Canadians, including Sheila Copps, David Runnalls and Johanne Gélinas have put their names to the fact that the Maclean's's foray into the same territory will sow confusion.