Intellectual Property
-
May 06, 2025
Facebook: Federal Court of Appeal clarifies requirements for consent under PIPEDA
In 2018, during Donald Trump’s first presidency, news media reported that the U.K.-based company Cambridge Analytica had used personal information obtained from Facebook users without authorization. Cambridge Analytica used this information to build a system that profiled individual U.S. voters and targeted them with personalized political advertisements.
-
May 05, 2025
Confidential information: Departing employees ordered to return and destroy
Businesses who have abruptly lost several key employees to a competitor may be inclined to seek injunctive relief from the courts to restrain their use of trade secrets and other confidential information. While departing employees are not permitted to take their employer’s confidential documentation, a plaintiff may need to establish a strong case before a court will issue an order restraining defendants from doing business with their former employer’s customers.
-
April 30, 2025
Ontario Court of Appeal reduces damages award in IP theft case involving former employee
The Ontario Court of Appeal has reduced damages awarded to a technology company over a former employee’s use of confidential information to create competing products, finding that a claim for a specific lost opportunity was statute-barred.
-
April 25, 2025
SCC rules CRTC has no jurisdiction to decide 5G access disputes between telecoms and municipalities
In a decision that addresses the role of so-called “dynamic” statutory interpretation in cases where technology has evolved or other circumstances have changed significantly since a law was enacted, the Supreme Court of Canada has affirmed 7-2 that the CRTC does not have jurisdiction to adjudicate disputes between telecom carriers and public authorities that have refused to allow the telcos to deploy 5G small cell antennas on public property.
-
April 25, 2025
‘Economic growth’ a key focus of Conservative and Liberal platforms on immigration, tax and regulation
Both parties currently leading in the polls for the federal election next week have proposed law-related measures in the areas of immigration, regulation and taxation that they contend will boost Canadian businesses and help the economy grow.
-
April 25, 2025
Torpedo trademark wars
Torpedo bats have taken the baseball world by storm, but that doesn’t mean attempts to register the name as a trademark will be a hit.
-
April 22, 2025
Law Commission of Ontario seeking answers on use of AI in criminal justice
The Law Commission of Ontario has started a public consultation process to explore the implications of artificial intelligence in the criminal justice system, seeking to gather diverse perspectives on its use and regulation.
-
April 22, 2025
Avoiding confusion concerning presumptions about copyright
A decision of the Federal Court emphasizes the importance of clinical precision in asserting a claim for copyright infringement (ITP SA v. CNOOC Petroleum North America, 2025 FC 684).
-
April 17, 2025
Canadian author files class action against Meta for allegedly training AI with copyrighted books
Meta and its subsidiary, Facebook Canada, are set to face a proposed class action over its alleged use of copyrighted works of Canadian authors to train its artificial intelligence large language models.
-
April 17, 2025
Shane Hardy and Brigeeta Richdale join Gowling WLG’s intellectual property group
Gowling WLG has announced the addition of Shane Hardy and Brigeeta Richdale to its intellectual property group, with Hardy based in Toronto and Richdale in Vancouver.