E-TIPS

On December 17, 2021, the Superior Court of Justice in Ontario (the Court) issued its decision in Wiseau Studio LLC v Harper, 2021 ONSC 8324 (Harper), declining to issue an anti-suit injunction.

On January 10, 2022, the Canadian Competition Bureau (the Bureau) and Health Canada’s Health Products and Food Branch (the HPFB) issued a joint notice to stakeholders on their continued collaboration to support Canadians’ access to safe, effective, and affordable pharmaceuticals and biologics.

Thank you for your readership over the last year and welcome to what we hope will be a better 2022!  In this year’s first issue of the E-TIPS® Newsletter, we will recap our most noteworthy reports from 2021, covering developments in intellectual property (IP) and information technology (IT) law under the following categories: (1) “Supreme Court of Canada Matters”, (2) “Legislative, Treaty and Policy Developments” (3) “Patents”, (4) “Trademarks”, (5) “Copyright”, (6) “Privacy”, and (7) “Legal Developments in Emerging Technology Around the World”.

On December 9, 2021, the latest annual report (the Report) from the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (the Commissioner) was tabled in Parliament. Among its recommendations, the Commissioner is calling on the Federal Government to adopt rights-based privacy laws that reflect Canada’s values and support responsible innovation.

On December 14, 2021, the BC Information and Privacy Commissioner, the Alberta Information and Privacy Commissioner, and the Québec Commission d’accès à l’information (collectively, the Privacy Commissioners) issued binding orders to Clearview AI to comply with recommendations made earlier this year following a joint investigation with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC) into the company’s use of facial recognition technology.

On December 6, 2021, the federal ministers of Defence, Public Safety, Emergency Preparedness and International Trade, Export Promotion, Small Business, and Economic Development (the Ministers) released an open letter to Canadians discussing the rise of ransomware attacks and offering guidance for organizations to curb this trend. Among the resources included in the letter, the Ministers refer to a Ransomware Playbook recently published by the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security (the Cyber Centre).

While the world welcomes 2022, the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) is processing trademark applications filed in 2019. However, CIPO appears to have a plan to reduce the significant backlog of Canadian trademark applications awaiting first examination.

On December 6, 2021, the British Columbia Special Committee to Review the Personal Information Protection Act (the Committee) released its report entitled Modernizing British Columbia's Private Sector Privacy Law (the Report), making numerous recommendations to modernize British Columbia’s Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA).

On December 15, 2021, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency's (CFIA) Industry Labelling Tool guidance on natural claims was updated, introducing an outcome-based approach to the use of natural claims on food labels.

On November 19, 2021, the Federal Court of Canada (the Court) in Janssen Inc. et al. v Sandoz Canada Inc, 2021 FC 1265, clarified the scope of patent agent privilege under section 16.1 of the Patent Act.

On October 18, 2021, the Ontario Court of Appeal (the Court) issued its decision in Battiston v Microsoft Canada Inc., 2021 ONCA 727, finding that, the termination provisions in a stock award agreement were enforceable against a former employee.

On November 16, 2021, Miramax filed a lawsuit against Quentin Tarantino for his planned auction of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) based on his original hand-written script of the film Pulp Fiction. In the lawsuit, Miramax alleges several causes of action, including breach of contract, copyright infringement, and trademark infringement.

On November 9, 2021, the Federal Court of Canada (the Court) in Farmobile, LLC v Farmers Edge Inc., 2021 FC 1200, held that a party may not appoint co-solicitors of record as of right.

On November 30, 2021, the Ontario government passed Bill 27, Working for Workers Act, 2021 (the Act), which introduces, among other things, a prohibition on the use of non-compete agreements for employees and a requirement for certain employers to have a “disconnecting from work” policy.

Receiving a demand letter alleging that you have infringed copyright can come as a surprise. An understanding of Canadian copyright law and the contextual background can help you decide what to do next.

On November 5, 2021, the Québec Court of Appeal (the Court) in Constellation Brands US Operations c Société de vin internationale ltée, 2021 QCCA 1664, dismissed an appeal from a decision of the Québec Superior Court, in which the trial judge rejected Constellation Brands US Operations’ (Constellation) claim against Société de vin internationale ltée (SVI) for infringement of the Trademarks Act and the Copyright Act.

On November 15, 2021, the Federal Court of Canada (the Court) issued its decision in Toronto Regional Real Estate Board v IMS Incorporated, 2021 FC 1239, granting the motion of Toronto Regional Real Estate Board (TRREB) and setting aside in part the order of the Case Management Judge (CMJ) that struck TRREB’s copyright infringement claims without leave to amend.

On November 9, 2021, the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) launched a public consultation on Draft Guideline B‑13: Technology and Cyber Risk Management (the Guideline). It applies to federally regulated financial institutions (FRFIs) and addresses OSFI’s expectations in relation to technology and cyber risks.

On November 3, 2021, the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) announced that Clearview AI, Inc. was found to have breached Australians’ privacy by scraping citizens’ biometric information and disclosing it through a facial recognition tool.

On October 27, 2021, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (the OPC) released observations following a series of international engagements between data protection and privacy authorities around the world and four of the biggest video teleconferencing (VTC) companies: Microsoft, Cisco, Zoom, and Google (the Organizations).