Intellectual Property

  • August 19, 2026

    Appeal tossed over AI-faked transcript as more counsel, clients & courts grapple with gen AI misuse

    The growing burdens that generative AI misuse in court is imposing on lawyers, litigants and courts are illustrated by a recent Nova Scotia Court of Appeal judgment that threw out a self-represented litigant’s appeal following his use of uncertified AI-generated trial transcripts containing multiple inaccuracies that opposing counsel identified through vigilant verification.

  • August 19, 2026

    U.K. High Court weighs in on copyright exposure of Temu e-commerce marketplace in Shein dispute

    In this case, the principal issue seems to have become whether the defendant’s operation of the Temu platform amounted to copyright infringement or was protected by the hosting defence. On a more practical level, title to the copyrights in issue was a key factor.

  • August 18, 2026

    Quebec Appeal Court dings family self-rep $1K plus costs for ‘deliberate’ use of bogus ChatGPT cases

    Quebec’s top court has ordered a self-represented family law appellant to pay $1,000 to his ex-wife plus her legal costs on the appeal, following his “deliberate” citation in court of ChatGPT-generated fake case law, including fictitious quotations.

  • August 13, 2026

    The smarter AI gets, the more human art becomes

    Speed has dominated how we talk about artificial intelligence. AI can generate an image in seconds, draft a song before lunch or produce a dozen variations of a story without getting tired. AI can make artistic production faster and more accessible, but the arts have never been valuable simply because they are difficult to produce. We value them because someone chose to make them, because a human being noticed something, felt something and found a way to share it. With AI becoming more capable, human skills behind art do not disappear. They become easier to see, and, increasingly, easier to defend, since copyright itself now turns on identifying the human contribution in a work.

  • August 07, 2026

    Proposed settlement of $300K reached in chocolate product class action

    A proposed national class action settlement has been reached with defendant Chocmod Canada Inc. relating to the marketing and sale of Truffettes de France cocoa and chocolate products in Canada.

  • August 07, 2026

    Court overturns trademark ruling that adopted plaintiffs’ draft order, including errors

    The Federal Court of Appeal has set aside a trademark infringement judgment after concluding that the Federal Court’s decision was almost identical to the plaintiffs’ draft order, including its errors, and did not adequately explain its conclusions.

  • August 06, 2026

    ‘Solicitor’s eyes only’ orders in trademark litigation: Protecting sensitive competitive information

    In an action for trademark infringement, an associate judge of the Federal Court allowed the defendant’s request to protect certain confidential information by means of a “solicitor’s eyes only” (SEO) designation. The designation would prevent the plaintiff from accessing specified confidential information produced in the litigation (Northern Reflections Ltd. v Aritzia Inc.).

  • August 05, 2026

    Marks & Clerk promotes Wilfred So to partner

    Marks & Clerk has promoted Wilfred So to partner, effective Aug. 1, 2026.

  • August 05, 2026

    Solicitor-client-privileged advice not a registerable ‘foreign influence activity’: commissioner

    Foreign Influence Transparency Commissioner Anton Boegman has issued guidance about when “licensed legal professionals” are required to register their work for foreign principals as “influence activities” in the new public foreign influence registry. The new commissioner issued five interpretation bulletins — including one specifically for lawyers — to give guidance on how to comply with the obligations under the Foreign Influence Transparency and Accountability Act (FITAA) and its regulations, which came into force Aug. 4.

  • July 31, 2026

    Litigator Tristan Tremblay joins Langlois in Quebec City

    Tristan Tremblay has joined Langlois’ litigation group in Quebec City.

  • July 31, 2026

    Canada’s AI strategy sets the stage for growth, governance and data sovereignty

    Artificial intelligence is reshaping economies, industries and the global competitive landscape at an unprecedented pace. Recognizing both the opportunities and the risks presented by this technological shift, the federal government launched Canada’s National Artificial Intelligence Strategy: AI for All on June 4, 2026.

  • July 30, 2026

    Privative clause struck down; judicial review for ‘legality’ is constitutionally guaranteed: SCC

    In an administrative law landmark that addresses the scope of the Constitution’s guarantee of judicial review, the Supreme Court of Canada has ruled 9-0 that legislatures cannot validly use privative clauses to bar “legality review” by courts — i.e., the availability of curial review is constitutionally guaranteed for all aspects of delegated administrative decisions, including on questions of law, fact or mixed law and fact.

  • July 29, 2026

    The human advantage in AI-powered legal practice

    As artificial intelligence grows more capable, human skills are becoming more valuable, not less. For decades, the legal profession around the world has rewarded expertise built on deep research, careful analysis and meticulous attention to detail. Today, AI can perform many of those tasks in seconds, summarizing thousands of documents, identifying relevant case law, drafting contracts, analyzing litigation trends and even suggesting legal arguments.

  • July 29, 2026

    Court grants permanent injunction against company for illegal sale of injectable peptides

    Health Canada has been granted a permanent injunction against Canlab Research and its representatives that prevents the company from selling unauthorized injectable peptides in Canada.

  • July 24, 2026

    Guillaume Lavoie Ste-Marie joins Gowling WLG’s IP litigation group

    Gowling WLG has welcomed Guillaume Lavoie Ste-Marie as a partner in its intellectual property litigation and strategy group in Montreal.

  • July 24, 2026

    Feds launch public consultation to strengthen AI transparency

    On July 23, the federal government launched a public consultation “seeking views on how to strengthen transparency for AI systems and AI-generated outputs.”

  • July 23, 2026

    The digital commons and the rule of law: Managing shared digital resources in the 21st century

    The 21st century has witnessed the emergence of a new form of commons, one that exists not on open pastures, in forests or upon the high seas, but within the vast and interconnected architecture of the digital world. Information, data, online platforms, open source software, digital knowledge repositories and artificial intelligence training materials have collectively given rise to what scholars increasingly describe as the digital commons.

  • July 17, 2026

    SCC rules medical treatment methods are not patentable, but drug-dosing regimens can be

    The Supreme Court of Canada has reaffirmed that Canadian patent law bars patent claims for “methods of medical treatment” but has also clarified that drug-dosing regimens can be patentable subject matter if they do not seek to monopolize professional medical skill and judgment. In its 158-page judgment handed down July 17, the top court 9-0 dismissed the appeal by generic drug manufacturer Pharmascience Inc. from decisions of the Federal Court and Federal Court of Appeal that affirmed the validity of the patent owned by the respondents, Janssen Inc. and Janssen Pharmaceutica N.V.

  • July 17, 2026

    PATENTS - Subject matter - Method of medical treatment - Patented medicines

    Appeal by Pharmascience Inc. (Pharmascience) from a judgment of the Federal Court of Appeal which upheld a judgment of the Federal Court. Janssen Inc. and Janssen Pharmaceutica N.V. (together, “Janssen”) filed a patent application in Canada for dosing regimens of an injectable formulation of paliperidone palmitate used to treat schizophrenia and related disorders.

  • July 10, 2026

    Many trial judges overworked and stressed — but not as much as lawyers: new national survey

    Many federally appointed trial judges report stress from excessive workloads, limited control over their time in the workplace and too few support resources, according to a new national survey of judges’ physical and psychological health. On July 9, the Canadian Judicial Council (CJC) reported on extensive research commissioned from the Université de Sherbrooke between 2024 and 2026 by the council of 44 chief and associate chief justices.

  • July 08, 2026

    How to decide between arbitration and litigation

    Mediation doesn’t always end with a handshake. After 39 years of handling commercial and employment disputes, I can tell you that a failed mediation is not necessarily a failure of the process; often, it is useful information. It tells you something about where the parties actually stand, and it forces a decision that matters as much as anything that came before it: arbitration or litigation?

  • July 08, 2026

    Functionality and shape marks: Lessons from an EU decision

    A decision of the EU General Court concerns the registrability of a three-dimensional trademark for packaging where the relevant legal issue was whether the shape consisted exclusively of features necessary to obtain a technical result. The General Court is the lower of the two courts that make up the Court of Justice of the European Union.

  • July 06, 2026

    Prime minister appoints new chief justices of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice & Federal Court

    Prime Minister Mark Carney has appointed new leaders to head two of Canada’s major trial courts. On July 6, Justice Alan Diner was appointed chief justice of the Federal Court, the national superior trial court that decides disputes in the federal domain. He succeeds Paul Crampton, who retired from the post Oct. 31, 2025.

  • July 03, 2026

    Canada ratifies protocol for U.K.’s accession to Pacific trade pact

    The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) will come into force between Canada and the United Kingdom on Sept. 1, Global Affairs Canada says.

  • July 02, 2026

    Federal Court of Appeal strikes challenge to preliminary Copyright Board ruling as premature

    The Federal Court of Appeal has struck a judicial review application challenging a preliminary Copyright Board ruling in an online royalty tariff proceeding, finding that the challenge was premature because the board’s process had not yet run its course.

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