Monday’s Mix

Usually, each Monday we present you with excerpts from five randomly chosen Canadian law blogs that have been recognized in recent Clawbie award lists. This Monday we’ll do something a little different, because the list of 2013 Clawbie winners just came out and introduced over twenty Canadian law blogs that were not on our lists already. From these we’ve chosen, again by random (random.com), ten to introduce here. Because we’ve not had a chance yet to ask their permission to reproduce excerpts, we’ll resort to linking to a recent post and telling you a little about what you’ll find there when you go to read it. We will be asking all winners for their permission to include them in the usual Monday’s Mix at Slaw, and those who agree will be folded into our current list.

IP Osgoode – Copyright Infringement of Tiny Photos Leads to Gigantic Award – A US photographer received a $1.6M award for copyright infringement by a health supplement website that used two of his photographs. Alex Buonassisi discuses the judgment and some implications.

Susan On The Soapbox – CNRL’s Primrose Problem: A Slow Motion Blow Out – Susan Wright talks about CNRL, an oil and gas company that is tracking in the Alberta Primrose area. It had four uncontrolled bitumen releases in 2013, to which the Alberta Energy Regulator has responded with puzzling slowness.

The Stream – When “must” means may and “may” means must – Guest blogger Robert Holmes QC delves into the curious world where judicial discretion meets statutory interpretation and produces surprising results concerning obligation.

DroitDu.Net – L’année 2013 en chiffres… et 2014 – DroitDu.net was launched in March of 2013, focused on information technology and based on the idea of blogging as a pedagogical tool. There follow data on numbers of visitors, most popular posts, etc.

The Treasurer’s Blog – Nominate leaders among us: Law Society Awards – LSUC gives out a number of awards annually and will begin considering recommendations from the profession in the new year.

Excess Copyright – University of Toronto’s Announcement re Non-renewal of Access Copyright License – Howard Knopf publishes the U of T’s press release declaring its decision not to renew the licensing arrangement with Access Copyright and adds some of his own commentary on the matter.

Canadian Privacy Law Blog – Saskatchewan Information and Privacy Commissioner, Gary Dickson, stepping down – David Fraser reports on the retirment of the long-serving privacy commissioner.

The Trial Warrior – A Judicial Do-Over – Antonin Pribetic gives a thoughtful analysis of the different roles of trial and appellate courts within the legal system, taking a particular look at s.96 of the Ontario Courts of Justice Act.

Western Canada Business Litigation Blog – Supreme Court of Canada Backs Securities Commission Enforcement – Marco Vessely discusses McLean v. British Columbia (Securities Commission), 2013 SCC 67 and the issue of the degree to which courts should defer to decisions of a provincial securities commission.

Family LLB – When do the child support guidelines apply? – video – The video, which is the substance of the entry, explains that the guidelines will apply in almost every situation in which parents go to court to get a support order.