The internet is like the wild west of the modern age. The simile may be trite, but there is no denying that the internet continues to progress faster than the law can regulate, rapidly presenting novel challenges for the courts. In particular, since the appearance of controversial sites such as Napster in the late 1990s, […]
On Sunday, February 4th, the New England Patriots and the Philadelphia Eagles will square off in the annual sports spectacle known as the Super Bowl. The National Football League’s (“NFL”) championship game is one of the largest televised events in the world, watched by over 160 million around the world and over 8 million in […]
Serving more than 49,000 real estate brokers in the Greater Toronto Area, the Toronto Real Estate Board (“TREB”) is Canada’s largest real estate board. The majority of real estate transactions in Toronto make use of TREB’s Multiple-Listing Service (“MLS”), an online tool for brokers to help customers buy and sell homes. In particular, the MLS […]
Patents exist to reward inventors and to facilitate the fulsome disclosure of inventions to the public’s benefit. However, prospective patents must meet statutory requirements in order to be approved. As per the Patent Act, RSC, 1985, c P-4 [Patent Act], prospective inventions must demonstrate that they are “useful” in order to enjoy protection under the Act. Unquestionably, […]
On June 28, 2017, the Supreme Court of Canada released Google Inc v Equustek Solutions Inc, 2017 SCC 34 [Google] which granted a worldwide interlocutory injunction against Google Inc. (“Google”), ordering it to remove a company’s website from its global search engines. The Court’s decision in Equustek provides new tools to intellectual property owners to […]
Canadian legislation differentiates between “official marks” and “trademarks.” The Trade-marks Act, RSC 1985, c T-13 [TMA] legislates both trademarks and official marks. Any entity which qualifies as a “public authority” may request that the Registrar of Trademarks give public notice of the adoption of a mark by that entity. The process of giving notice does not require an […]
On December 6th, 2016, the Supreme Court of Canada (“SCC”) heard the case of Google v Equustek. The SCC is being tasked with defining the legal obligations of online intermediaries such as Google. In coming up with these definitions, the SCC must also answer difficult questions surrounding the regulation of illegality on the internet – […]
On 28 February 2014, a German court dismissed a patent-infringement claim for US$2.2 billion in damages against Apple (LG Mannheim, 2 O 53/12 and 2 O 95/13). IPCom, a German patent-holding firm, claimed that Apple owed it damages for iPhones sold in Germany because Apple had allegedly violated its patent for granting mobile devices access […]
Part II of this two part article concerns damages and the use of expert testimony, alongside the implications arising from the case as a whole. Part I describes the factual background and trial history of the case, also delving into the ruling of the Court with regard to substantial infringement. SCC Analysis (Continued) Expert Testimony […]
There are many unsettled aspects of Canadian copyright law, ranging from Parliament's intended scope of fair dealing principles to the proper evaluation of substantial infringement. The case of Cinar Corporation v Robinson, [2013] 3 SCR 1168 [Cinar Corp] constitutes the Supreme Court of Canada's ("SCC") most recent iteration on the latter. While the case reinforces a general […]