The Federal Court of Appeal has clarified the Federal Court’s jurisdiction over contractual ownership issues as part of patent proceedings. Ownership of patents is often intertwined with the identification of inventors, assignments of patent rights and license agreements. The Federal Court hears most intellectual property cases in Canada and more certainty on the Court’s jurisdiction in this area is welcome.

As a statutory court, the Federal Court shares jurisdiction with the superior courts in certain areas and has exclusive jurisdiction on other matters. As it relates to intellectual property, the Federal Courts Act, Section 20 identifies areas of exclusive . . . [more]

To the uninitiated, it looks a bit like urban camping. Take a closer look though, and you’ll see their entire life belongings, and evidence that these camps are not recreational, but a matter of survival.

What we’re referring to of course are the numerous tent encampments that have proliferated across Canada during the pandemic. Other alternatives often resorted to in those without permanent housing, including couch surfing, staying with friends or family members temporarily, and even shelters and respite centres, may not be appropriate in the circumstances, including providing inadequate distancing from others.

These encampments give rise to a . . . [more]

Every week we present the summary of a decision handed down by a Québec court provided to us by SOQUIJ and considered to be of interest to our readers throughout Canada. SOQUIJ is attached to the Québec Department of Justice and collects, analyzes, enriches, and disseminates legal information in Québec.

RESPONSABILITÉ : La directrice de l’Autorité centrale du Québec a commis une faute en décidant d’intervenir pour aider un père à retrouver son ex-épouse et son fils en utilisant les pouvoirs prévus dans la Loi sur les aspects civils de l’enlèvement international et interprovincial d’enfants alors qu’elle n’avait pas la . . . [more]

Peer-review is a widely accepted process in scholarly publishing. It’s seen as a sign of quality and a way to establish legitimacy. There are, however, drawbacks to this process too. It takes time and doesn’t always give consistent results. What benefits do we get from the peer-review process and is it worth the costs? Are the benefits the same for legal information as they are for other disciplines?

Many journals, whether scientific or legal, open access or behind a paywall, use peer-review because it provides status that can help writers with tenure promotion or securing grants and scholarships. There are . . . [more]

Each Friday, we share the latest job listings from Slaw Jobs, which features employment opportunities from across the country. Find out more about these positions by following the links below, or learn how you can use Slaw Jobs to gain valuable exposure for your job ads, while supporting the great Canadian legal commentary at Slaw.ca.

Current postings on Slaw Jobs:

• Indigenous Law and Indigenous Outreach Librarian (Full-time) | Victoria, BC
  (University of Victoria)
• Library Statistics Analyst (Contract role) | Ontario
  (Legal Information and Resource Network [LIRN])
• Paralegal – Real Estate (Full time) | Chilliwack, BC
  (Waterstone Law Group LLP)

By Lewis Waring, Paralegal and Student-at-Law, Editor, First Reference Inc.

Human rights claims are often the result of an employee’s claim that their employer has failed to accommodate their needs. Whether such claims arise due to an employee’s disability, family status, gender, religion or any other human rights ground, employees have a duty to accommodate the human rights needs of their employees. However, the duty to accommodate does not require employers to provide employees with their ideal option. Instead, employees are only required to provide reasonable accommodation.

In a recent British Columbian human rights case, an employer fulfilled its duty . . . [more]

COVID-19 has delayed many civil jury trials, creating concerns of prejudice. In the recent decision of Saadi v. Silva, 2020 ONSC 6700, the plaintiff brought a motion to strike the jury after the trial was adjourned.

In October, a jury was selected for the Saadi v Silva matter. However, after jury selection, Premier Ford announced that Toronto would return to a modified Stage 2. As part of this return, in-person trials were to continue at the discretion of the trial judge. Since in this case, no evidence had been called and no opening statements were made, the jury . . . [more]

Last December was a rare instance where the average Canadians’ attention was briefly captured by a matter of administrative law, thanks to Russian spies and Super Bowl ads. Two months earlier, Britons’ attention was also captured by a matter of administrative law, involving a challenge to the prorogation of parliament by the Queen at the request of Prime Minister Boris Johnson. In that case, R (on the application of Miller) v The Prime Minister, [2019] UKSC 41, on judicial review the UK Supreme Court held that the prorogation had been unlawful.

The loss was significant for the ruling Conservatives. . . . [more]

Each Wednesday we tell you which three English-language cases and which French-language case have been the most viewed* on CanLII and we give you a small sense of what the cases are about.

For this last week:

1. Quebec (Attorney General) v. 9147-0732 Québec inc., 2020 SCC 32 (CanLII)

[1] This appeal requires this Court to decide whether s. 12 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms protects corporations from cruel and unusual treatment or punishment. Like our colleagues, we conclude that it does not, because corporations lie beyond s. 12’s protective scope. Simply put, the text “cruel . . . [more]

The 2020 appeals court ruling in York University v. The Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency, declared York’s fair dealing guidelines, which attempted to set out the terms for fairly using articles and chapters in the university’s courses without paying royalty fees, to be other than fair to authors and publishers. The court notes that “York did not justify [its claim to ‘fair dealing’] beyond invoking education as an allowable purpose” (258). In the face of the court’s refusal of York’s blanket appeal to the fair dealing exception to copyright infringement, and now that the case is headed to the . . . [more]

Here are excerpts from the most recent tips on SlawTips, the site that each week offers up useful advice, short and to the point, on practice, research, writing and technology.

Research & Writing

Use an RSS Feed to Track the Progress of Federal Legislation
Susannah Tredwell

In a previous tip, I referred very briefly to the fact that the Canadian federal government and some provinces offer RSS feeds that can be used to track the progress of legislation. The federal RSS legislative feed is very flexible, allowing you to choose exactly what information you want to track. … . . . [more]