Intellectual Property
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July 26, 2024
Recent copyright developments: Too early to draw adverse inference
Voltage Holdings, LLC has been trying to assert claims against a mass group of Internet subscribers who used or authorized the use of the BitTorrent peer-to-peer network to unlawfully make the plaintiff’s film available for distribution. The plaintiff unsuccessfully sought default judgment in its action in the Federal Court.
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July 25, 2024
An overview of Canada’s new Digital Services Tax Act
On June 20, 2024, Bill C-59 received royal assent, establishing Canada’s new Digital Services Tax Act (DST Act). However, it was stipulated, through Bill C-59, that the Act would only come into force on a date determined by order of the Governor in Council.
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July 24, 2024
Duty of tech competence, AI adoption by lawyers | Connie L. Braun and Juliana Saxberg
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has dominated legal tech conversations for several years, and for good reason. Widespread consumer adoption of ChatGPT and other generative AI products has delivered a host of unprecedented legal and tech risks to Canadian entities. Governments and regulators in Canada and abroad continue to scramble to regulate the responsible use of AI tools, even though their use is already thoroughly embedded in Canadian and global business, government and legal system operations. As a result, the typical Canadian entity’s AI compliance dossier is an unfinished patchwork of aspirational codes and aging regulatory instruments that were designed when Y2K was considered a big enterprise tech risk.
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July 24, 2024
New managing partner for Aird & Berlis
Jill P. Fraser, a senior partner in Aird & Berlis’s financial services group and a long-standing member of the executive committee, the firm’s new managing partner.
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July 23, 2024
Federal Court orders broadcaster to pay $27.3M for copyright infringement of Turkish programs
The Federal Court has ordered a broadcaster to pay $27.3 million for infringing the copyrights of Turkish broadcaster Kanal D on 2,729 episodes of 22 television programs.
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July 22, 2024
Competition watchdog gives guidance, seeks input on policing deceptive ‘greenwashing’ by business
The federal Competition Bureau is asking for input from lawyers, their clients and the public to inform the bureau's “future enforcement guidance” regarding misleading and unsubstantiated environmental claims by businesses about products or activities, including future enforcement guidance with respect to last month’s amendments to the Competition Act that explicitly address “greenwashing.”
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July 18, 2024
Federal Court orders government to disclose redacted information in $102M contract with Ford Canada
The Federal Court has directed the federal government to disclose some previously redacted information related to an agreement through which the government committed to contribute $102.4 million towards an engine program at the Ford plant in Windsor, Ont.
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July 18, 2024
Copyright board vice-chair and chief executive officer appointed
François-Philippe Champagne, the minister of innovation, science and industry, announced the appointment of Drew Olsen as the vice-chair and chief executive officer of the Copyright Board of Canada. The announcement, made in a July 16 news release, confirmed that Olsen would begin his five-year term on Aug. 26, 2024.
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July 17, 2024
B.C. court dismisses defamation action against charity researcher under anti-SLAPP law
The B.C. Supreme Court has dismissed a defamation lawsuit brought against a writer who published letters alleging that a philanthropic gift was part of a massive tax fraud scam, finding that public interest weighed in favour of protecting the writer’s expression.
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July 16, 2024
Federal Court orders ISPs to implement site blocking to curb pirated online sports broadcasts
The Federal Court has ordered Canadian Internet service providers (ISPs) to implement dynamic site‑blocking aimed at stopping copyright infringement with respect to live sports broadcasts.