It appears that Toronto’s ad campaign featuring the penny is going to cost the city a lot more than that penny. The ads for the “One Cent of the GST NOW” campaign show the penny on billboards, in bus shelters, the TTC, on bumper stickers, and on buttons. Mayor Miller is using these ads as a part of his campaign to have 1 cent of every 6 cents of GST collected returned to the municipality where it was collected.

However, this campaign was foolishly executed. In order to use the penny in an advertising campaign you must first get permission for the Royal Canadian Mint. The city did not ask for permission and as a result the Royal Canadian Mint is seeking $48,000 in compensation. The City of Toronto and the Royal Canadian Mint are now in negotiations, but the likelihood is that the city will have to pay for the unauthorized use of the image. The amount is yet to be determined and should keep the lawyers busy for some time to come.