The Complete Brief
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July 31, 2024
JURISDICTION — Domestic issues (between Canadian jurisdictions) — Forum conveniens
Appeal by Merchant Law Group LLP (MLG) from judge’s refusal to decline jurisdiction on proposed class proceeding against it in favour of Saskatchewan, and from finding that service of claim on MLG in British Columbia (B.C.) was effective. MLG raised forum non conveniens grounds. MLG was a national law firm, with offices in locations across Canada, including a head office in Saskatchewan.
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July 31, 2024
DISCHARGE OF BANKRUPT — Debts arising from fraud, misconduct, or breach of fiduciary duty
Appeal by Appellants from a judgment of the British Columbia Court of Appeal Court, which upheld a chambers judge’s conclusion that administrative penalties and disgorgement orders came within the exception set out in s. 178(1)(e) of the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act (BIA). The Appellants were undischarged bankrupts. They had engaged in market manipulation that caused vulnerable investors to lose millions of dollars.
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July 31, 2024
Attention Premier Ford: Call me | Norman Douglas
Dear Premier Ford: I think your heart is in the right place. I think maybe your head is not. Who is giving you their advice on the judicial system? I’m guessing it doesn’t include any judges or justices of the peace. What “you are hearing on the street” must be the voices of folks who read headlines and have never sat through one day in an Ontario courtroom.
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July 31, 2024
The great discontent of law firm power dynamics | Jacob Murad
I often hear from colleagues about a general discontent in working for a standard law practice and its culture. There is often resentment and politics between the different classes of employees — partners, associates, articling students, law clerks and operation staff. The reason for this discontent is typically due to a perceptive hierarchy that does not reflect practical reality. In order to foster a more positive culture in a law practice, it is the responsibility of the leaders of the firm (ownership group or managing partner) to fracture the perceptive hierarchy and be as transparent has possible as to the firm and its goals.
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July 31, 2024
Recent copyright developments: Statutory damages
In Vidéotron Ltée v. Konek Technologies Inc., 2023 FC 741, 202 C.P.R. (4th) 311, the court said the purpose of the subsection 38.1 is to prevent a mechanical application of the section from leading to the awarding of disproportionate sums. It would be paradoxical if the purpose of the provision could be frustrated by interpreting it in a too technical or mechanical fashion. The concept of “medium” must be applied while considering the wide variety of types of works that can be subject to copyright and the growing diversity of technological means of reproducing or retransmitting these works. A pragmatic approach is called for.
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July 31, 2024
New associate joins Mathews Dinsdale Halifax
A recent news release announced that Sarah Gray has joined Mathews, Dinsdale & Clark LLP as an associate.
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July 31, 2024
New partner and IP expert at Blakes
Fiona Legere has joined Blakes as a partner and leader of the firm’s intellectual property litigation practice.
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July 31, 2024
Competition Act amendments: Examining new merger control regulations
On June 20, 2024, Bill C-59, known as The Fall Economic Statement Implementation Act, 2023, received royal assent, enacting further amendments to Canada’s Competition Act (the Act). Over the last two years, the Act has been substantially reformed through three separate rounds of amendments. Cumulatively, these changes represent the most significant changes to Canadian competition law since 1985, when the Act was enacted.
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July 30, 2024
Federal Court reinstates trademark based on new evidence of sales in Canada
The Federal Court has overturned an administrative decision expunging a registered trademark based on evidence filed on appeal that established that the owner of the mark was the first link in the chain of distribution of third-party sales of the relevant products in Canada.
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July 30, 2024
Counsel contend Ottawa’s spate of judicial appointments might make novel constitutional appeal moot
Lawyers who won a groundbreaking Federal Court declaration that recognized a “constitutional convention that judicial vacancies on the provincial superior courts and federal courts must be filled within a reasonable time” contend Ottawa’s appeal should be dismissed as moot if the Trudeau government gets federal judicial vacancies down to the reasonable level set by Federal Court Justice Henry Brown last February.