Intellectual Property
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February 27, 2024
Online harms bill would create new hate crimes, duties for social media, stiff fines, imprisonment
The federal government’s proposed Online Harms Act was welcomed by several advocacy groups who rated it a substantial improvement over Ottawa’s proposed blueprint three years ago; however red flags were raised, including questions around new hate crime provisions and penalties; whether the definitions of the targeted online harms are appropriately tailored; and whether a proposed new online regulator’s broad discretionary powers have adequate safeguards.
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February 27, 2024
Federal Court orders Access Copyright to refund $25.5 million to education ministries, school boards
The Federal Court has ordered Access Copyright to pay the education ministries of 10 provinces and Ontario school boards approximately $25.5 million plus pre-judgment and post-judgment interest, for overpayments of tariff royalties in 2010, 2011 and 2012.
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February 27, 2024
Preparing now for AI in your sphere | Connie L. Braun and Juliana Saxberg
There is a growing corpus of commentary and advice to Canadian entities recommending how to responsibly manage the risk presented by artificial intelligence (AI). For smaller entities that do not have the resources or operational capacity to institute an AI governance committee, the prospect of following this advice can seem daunting. Existing tech governance frameworks and guidelines have already proven inadequate to corral the risk pervasive in AI applications. For those not already aware, these risks contain bias and security vulnerabilities, along with seemingly no means to prevent human misuse of AI tools or poisoning of data.
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February 26, 2024
Ford slammed by bar for politicizing judge appointments; JPs threaten suit over pay review delays
Ontario’s Progressive Conservative government is garnering sharp criticism from the legal community for further politicizing an appointment process that four years ago was lauded as the “the gold standard for the appointment of an independent and qualified judiciary,” free from partisan considerations.
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February 26, 2024
PATENTS - Striking out - Frivolous, vexatious, abuse of process
Appeal by Janssen Inc. (Janssen) from the decision of the Federal Court dismissing its motion for summary judgment in four related patent infringement actions on the ground of abuse of process.
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February 26, 2024
Section 45 proceedings and change in ownership of the mark
A decision of the Federal Court considers the impact of the special circumstances exception in section 45 proceedings in cases where there has been a change in the ownership of the mark (Centric Brands Holding LLC v. Stikeman Elliott LLP 2024 FC 204).
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February 23, 2024
Ottawa files its appeal of Federal Court’s ruling that gov’t illegally invoked emergency powers
Citing multiple grounds of appeal, Ottawa has asked the Federal Court of Appeal to overturn last month’s Federal Court judgment that the federal Liberal government acted unreasonably and illegally two years ago when it declared a public order emergency and purported to arrogate to itself under the federal Emergencies Act extraordinary powers to end truckers' disruption of the capital and ports of entry in protest of government-mandated pandemic measures.
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February 23, 2024
Two new associate chief judges for Nova Scotia
Judge Ronda van der Hoek and Judge D. Shane Russell have been named associate chief judges, who can, in addition to hearing matters in court, assist the chief judge with responsibilities related to the administration of the Nova Scotia Provincial Court.
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February 20, 2024
Alta.’s Justice Mary Moreau welcomed at celebration of first female-majority Supreme Court of Canada
The milestone appointment of Justice Mary Moreau was celebrated in Ottawa, where the ex-chief justice and former criminal lawyer and constitutional litigator from Alberta was lauded for her “unparalleled work ethic,” “great intelligence” as well as for her “humility” and “compassion.” “For the first time in the history of our country, the majority of judges sitting on the Supreme Court are now women,” federal Justice Minister Arif Virani said
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February 16, 2024
Safeguarding from corporate cyber-threats: Good old-fashioned compliance not good enough
Recent news about a 26 billion-record mother of all breaches prompted, among other discussions, a flurry of water cooler conversations in the days that followed the headlines. Among the sources of compromised data were big names like Tencent, Twitter/X, LinkedIn, Evite, Adobe, and records from government organizations in the United States and around the globe. This news has left many business leaders and personal users wondering if they should consider reverting to in-house storage of sensitive data, as they believe this would provide them with more control. My response is, “But would it?”