Intellectual Property
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March 21, 2024
Politicization of tribunal appointments worse than that of judicial appointments | Brian Cook
Recent moves by the current government to politicize the process of appointing judges have caused significant concern. The process for appointing adjudicators who sit on Ontario’s adjudicative tribunals is much worse. The government has been criticized for making political appointments to the committee responsible for making judicial appointment recommendations. There is no such committee, and virtually no other form of oversight for appointments to adjudicative tribunals.
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March 20, 2024
Montreal cosmetics firm fined $500,000 for marketing products containing ‘forever chemical’
A Montreal-area cosmetics manufacturer is facing a $500,000 federal fine for marketing cosmetics containing a common silicone polymer classified as a “forever chemical.”
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March 19, 2024
AI: A time to embrace | Connie L. Braun
Recently, I rediscovered Pete Seeger’s song, Turn, Turn, Turn which features the lyrics, “To everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under heaven.” Viewing various performances via YouTube (this one is my favourite), I have found myself considering how a time and place for everything applies in this day and age with so many questions about and distrust of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Of particular note in the lyrics, especially as it relates to the effect AI is having and will continue to have on our lives is,“ A time you may embrace, a time to refrain from embracing.” I am thinking that it is a time to embrace.
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March 19, 2024
Ottawa appeals declaration of constitutional requirement for timely federal judicial appointments
“Stay in your lane” — those words might encapsulate the thrust of the federal government’s message to the Federal Court in Ottawa's appeal of a recent groundbreaking judgment, which declared that the prime minister and federal justice minister are constitutionally obliged to fix the lengthy federal judicial appointment delays that have for years bedeviled litigants, lawyers and judges.
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March 19, 2024
Targeting and infringement by selling goods on the Internet
An essential feature of trademark law is that it provides only territorial protection to the proprietor of a mark in the territory or territories where the mark is registered. But the marketing and sale of goods on the Internet has no territorial boundaries. The website marketing the goods may be viewed by consumers anywhere in the world where there is an Internet signal.
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March 15, 2024
Supreme Court rules limited statutory rights of appeal do not preclude access to judicial review
In a 9-0 judgment supportive of litigants’ access to judicial review, the Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that a limited statutory right of appeal in a case does not preclude judicial review for matters not the subject of appeal, i.e. where there is an appeal right limited to questions of law, judicial review is available for questions of fact or mixed fact and law.
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March 15, 2024
Federal Court of Appeal rejects Google’s appeal on smart-speaker technology patent
The Federal Court of Appeal has dismissed appeals by Google relating to its patent for adaptive echo and noise control in electronic devices, upholding that Sonos Inc.’s smart speaker technology did not infringe on the patent.
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March 14, 2024
Court authorizes class action over antipsychotic drug that allegedly causes compulsive behaviour
The Superior Court of Quebec has authorized a national class action against pharmaceutical companies Otsuka Canada and Lundbeck Canada over allegations that their antipsychotic drug Rexulti causes compulsive behaviors, according to a release from law firm Rochon Genova LLP.
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March 15, 2024
Princess Kate’s publicity, privacy and press: A balance hard to find
A mother of three, who is coping with health troubles in her early 40s, published a social card for celebrating Mother’s Day, choosing an edited picture. She wished a Happy Mother’s Day to mothers and mothers to be, but she chose to edit a few details for undisclosed reasons.
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March 13, 2024
CRTC launches consultation on regulatory framework for Online News Act
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has launched a public consultation on the regulatory framework for the Online News Act.