Intellectual Property
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November 11, 2025
The limits of biometric surveillance
A recent decision by Quebec’s privacy regulator highlights the risks that organizations face when implementing biometric surveillance systems. In 2024, Metro Inc., a Canadian retailer, announced the launch of a biometric surveillance system in some of its Quebec stores. Metro planned to build a database of facial scans of the people visiting its stores based on the footage captured by Metro’s in-store security cameras. Metro hoped to use this database to identify shoplifters to protect itself from theft.
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November 11, 2025
New trial ordered in P.E.I. adjoining property dispute
A well-known line from Robert Frost’s poem Mending Wall says, “Good fences make good neighbours.” Sometimes, building a fence or wall is an overly simple solution. When neighbours take each other to court and accusations of criminal behaviour are made, even the trial can become unpleasant. It was this sort of feud that led to the Prince Edward Island Court of Appeal case R. v. Moore, 2025 PECA 6.
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November 10, 2025
Judicial vacancies hit 5%, threatening more trial delays and backlogs
Ottawa is lagging again in filling the country’s federal benches, hitting a five per cent vacancy rate on Nov. 1, 2025 — mostly in the critical trial courts of Ontario, B.C. and Quebec, which are constitutionally obliged to conduct trials within a reasonable time or face the prospect of staying criminal cases.
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November 10, 2025
The Guardians case: A cautionary tale in seeking interlocutory relief
When two of Canada’s largest providers of inpatient and outpatient mental health and addiction services clashed over the use of the term “GUARDIANS,” the plaintiffs sought an interlocutory injunction from the Federal Court. This decision highlights the formidable legal hurdles applicants face (Schlegel Health Care Inc. v. Edgewood Health Network Inc., 2025 FC 1639).
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November 07, 2025
Cultural loss cited in Churchill portrait theft sentence appeal
It was the Canadian equivalent of a break-in at the Louvre. It involved a photograph taken in 1941 during Winston Churchill’s visit to Ottawa, where then-prime minister Mackenzie King invited Yousuf Karsh to photograph the U.K. leader.
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November 07, 2025
Can celebrities lose the right to their voice?
Back in May 2024, actress Scarlett Johansson was embroiled in a legal dispute with OpenAI when the company released a voice for its ChatGPT assistant, “Sky,” which sounded strangely similar to her own. Johansson had previously declined an offer to voice the AI, and this alleged mimicry was done without her permission. OpenAI has since removed the “Sky” voice and paused its release, while the issues remain in dispute.
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November 04, 2025
Court denies injunction in trademark dispute between mental health program providers
The Federal Court has dismissed a motion for an interlocutory injunction in an alleged trademark infringement case concerning the term “guardians” used by mental health and addictions program providers.
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October 30, 2025
Exclusive: Chief Justice Crampton reflects on Federal Court’s successes and ongoing challenges
As he steps down today from the diversified and expert bench he’s recruited over the past 14 years, Federal Court Chief Justice Paul Crampton says he’s confident about the national trial court’s future, even though the full implementation of the court’s “digital shift” awaits the necessary funding from Ottawa.
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October 28, 2025
CJ Crampton says Federal Court ‘won’t hesitate’ to impose costs on lawyers for undisclosed GenAI use
Counsel who “thumb their noses” at the Federal Court’s requirement to disclose any and all generative AI they used to create court filings will find that the national trial court “won’t hesitate” to ding them with personal costs or initiate contempt proceedings, warns Federal Court Chief Justice Paul Crampton.
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October 27, 2025
Court issues fine in contempt case for social media videos
The Federal Court has issued a fine to a gym owner in a case of contempt where he posted social media videos conveying confidential information from a mediation.