Last month I wrote about Fired Without Cause, an online legal service for consumers created by Vancouver startup Paradigm Shift Solutions Inc., formed by Chilwin Cheng, LLB and Jim Hamlin, a software development expert. Since I’m curious to know how innovative companies get started in the Canadian legal industry, I arranged for a telephone interview with Chilwin Cheng through his PR company Fleishman-Hillard.

Connie: I want to start at the beginning. Where did you do your law degree? . . . [more]

The suit by Rosemary Port, the blogger on Skanks in NYC (originally here) outed by Google, may have its parallels in Canada soon.

Brian Bowman of Pitblado LLP in Winnipeg is seeking to reveal the identity of the blogger behind Zeromeanszero.blogspot.com, a political site dedicated largely to the municipal politics in Ottawa, and its mayor, Larry O’Brien. (Bowman posted here on Slaw earlier this year on a different subject).

Michael Geist weighed in on the case, saying,

Canadian law does permit the disclosure under the appropriate circumstance, they just have to convince the court that this qualifies.

Sept. 4 is the deadline for submissions to the United States District Court – Southern District of New York regarding “Google Book Search,” as the proposed settlement has come to be known.

In a court order of April 28 (via Wired), the judge agreed that it was prudent to allow additional time for stakeholders to assess the agreement. Pamela Samuelson was the lead author requesting the extension, and has written a wonderfully lucid account, not only of the shortcomings of the agreement, but also succinctly identifying the motivations of the parties in fashioning it.

Her short article appears in . . . [more]

For all we’ve heard about the ills of the Canadian healthcare system during the debate about reform in the U.S., it’s worth noting that we still have some of the best outcomes in the entire world.

The CBC has an article today that shows a map of global life expectancies, and a link to a site by an American professor that allows a comparison of mortality risks.

We should be proud of what we’ve accomplished here. . . . [more]

I’m an iPhone user. Hell, I’m a Mac fanboy. But I’ve been slow to come to those apps on the iPhone that don’t claim to increase my productivity somehow. Professional deformation, I guess. But I’m finally plumping for an iPhone app that would be a real stretch to use in connection with law: Brushes. This $5 app lets you paint on your iPhone. I know, I know: finger painting, like Trix, is for kids. Uh uh. Nope. Not a bit of it.

Don’t believe me? Just take a look at some fantastic finished products, all done on a canvas . . . [more]

Slaw readers crossing the US border should read closely the folloing statement issued this morning by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano

For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
Contact: 202-282-8010

CBP Border Search of Electronic Devices Containing Information

(PDF, 10 pages – 4.87 MB)
ICE Border Searches of Electronic Media (PDF, 10 pages – 453 KB)
Privacy Impact Assessment: Border Searches of Electronic Information
(PDF, 51 pages – 6 MB)

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano today announced new directives to enhance and clarify oversight for searches of computers . . . [more]

A quick sidebar update to my previous post on astronaut problems with image appropriation in advertising. This fall Omega commemorated the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, releasing a print advertisment for the Speedmaster watch “The first and only watch to go to the moon / July 20, 1969.” The ad features a photograph of John F. Kennedy, and his famous quote that started it all: “We choose to go to the moon.” Alas: the ad formally references the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum and its website. Lesson learned? . . . [more]

The Foundation for Legal Research has awarded the 2009 Walter Owen Book prize to

• Bradley Crawford, The law of banking and payment in Canada (Aurora, Ont.: Canada Law Book, 2008); and to
• William Tetley, Marine cargo claims, 4th ed. (Cowansville, Que.: Thomson Carswell, 2008)

The press release is on the Canadian Bar Association website. . . . [more]

On August 25, 2009, the Alberta Securities Commission dismissed an application by TransAlta Corporation to cease trade the shareholder rights plan of Canadian Hydro Developers Inc. The TransAlta take-over bid for Canadian Hydro Developers was scheduled to expire, unless extended, on August 27, 2009 and was effectively blocked by the rights plan. Although the impact of this decision will not be clear until the ASC releases its written reasons, it may be further evidence of a shift by the Canadian securities regulators towards providing boards of directors with greater deference in resisting unsolicited take-over bids.

Shareholder Rights Plans

Shareholder rights . . . [more]

I love bar admission season. Here in Alberta, there is an individual admission ceremony where friends and family and firm members can hear a short roast (AKA application) and help celebrate the achievement of the newest member of the Law Society of Alberta.

It is a very happy occasion. The process to become a lawyer is not simple, and I appreciate that we still celebrate admissions individually.

Congratulations to all the new lawyers. . . . [more]

Catherine Best has revised and re-launched her website Best Guide to Canadian Legal Research as of yesterday morning.

I think most Slaw readers have come across this site at some point in their web travels. As I mentioned on the VLLB yesterday, the domain was first registered in September 1998, and Catherine was one of the first lawyers to self-publish her own site in Canada. That the topic was Canadian legal research, makes it more appropriate to wish her a happy re-launch from everyone here at Slaw! . . . [more]

The Ontario Government has recently passed innovative legislation to stimulate investment in renewable energy, green jobs and energy conservation and demand management. One of the key features of the Green Energy and Economy Act, 2009 (“GEA”) are “Feed in Tariffs” for renewable generation such as wind, solar, biomass and hydro-electric power. This regime of Feed in Tariffs for renewable power has proved successful for many European jurisdictions that have been leaders in the development of renewable power projects.

At the present time, the Ontario Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure is working hard to draft the key regulations to support the . . . [more]