Articles 2021

Beacon Technology or Bluetooth Low Energy Beacons (collectively, “Beacons”) are becoming a major technological advancement available to Canadian retailers. However, Beacons also pose various legal concerns relating to privacy and data collection. This article discusses how Beacon technology works, and examines some of the legal considerations of which practitioners and business owners should be aware.

The Supreme Court of Canada heard oral arguments on November 8, 2016 in an important appeal challenging the “promise of the patent” utility doctrine in Canada. In AstraZeneca Canada Inc. v. Apotex Inc. (Esomeprazole), the Supreme Court was asked to decide on the question of whether the doctrine properly exists in Canada. This article provides a brief summary of the oral arguments heard by the Supreme Court.

John Simpson outlines the options available to companies experiencing an online attack on its brand.

The recent decision of the Ontario Superior Court in Nortel Networks Corporation, Re 2015 ONSC 2987 (“Nortel”), is a useful case study to highlight the complexity associated with the valuation of intellectual property.

An Ontario court recently ruled in 395804 Ontario Limited c.o.b. as Blacklock's Reporter v. Canadian Vintners Association and Dan Paszkowski that circumventing a subscription paywall to access a news article violates the technological protection measure (TPM) provisions in Canada's Copyright Act, and negates the fair dealing defence to copyright infringement available under Canadian law.

In the recent decision of Imperial Manufacturing Group Inc. v. Decor Grates Incorporated, 2015 FCA 100, the Federal Court of Appeal used an appeal of a particulars motion in an industrial designs case to eliminate the prior distinction between the standard of review of discretionary or interlocutory orders and all other appeals from the Federal Court.

This summer, Toronto will host the Pan Am and Parapan Am Games, one of the most technologically connected games on the globe.

In September 2014, the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled to allow libraries to digitize and distribute books to reading terminals without a digitization licence.

An overview of the new standards relevant to outsourcing, and in particular, the following: (1) ISO 37500:2014 on Outsourcing; (2) ISO/IEC 27018:2014 on Cloud Privacy; and (3) ISO/IEC CD 27017 (draft) on Cloud Security.