As IPPractice.ca says, this is “Copyright Week at the Supreme Court of Canada“:

The Supreme Court of Canada provides copies of the factums for the parties and interveners on its website. They also will be live broadcasting the oral arguments. The following table contains links to the factums and live webcast links for each proceeding.

 

Case Likely Schedule Webcast Factums 33921 – online games Tuesday AM webcast factums 33922 – communication to the public Tuesday AM webcast factums 33800 – previewing music Tuesday PM webcast factums 33888 – Access Copyright Wednesday AM webcast factums; additional factums

. . . [more]

For Ontario lawyers a significant decision this morning of importance to civil litigators on the new rules concerning summary judgments.

Five cases decided together raise a number of issues concerning the interpretation of the new Rule 20, including the nature of the test for determining whether or not summary judgment should be granted, the scope and purpose of the new powers that have been given to judges hearing motions for summary judgment, and the types of cases that are amenable to summary judgment.

The grouped appeals are from decisions of the Superior Court of Justice under Rule 20 of . . . [more]

What do you do when a website claims that you are an international criminal kingpin, and it’s affecting your business?

Altaf Nazerali, the plaintiff in Supreme Court of British Columbia decision Nazerali v. Mitchell, discovered a number of articles about him on a website, Deep Capture, including allegations of arms trading, ties to the Iranian regime, and that he was part of a criminal enterprise with ties to the Italian and Russian mafias and Colombian drug cartels. The website even claimed he attempted to sell enriched uranium to Al-Qaeda.

The plaintiff was actually in the business of founding, . . . [more]

An English (and Welsh) court has held that Google, as owner of Blogger.com, is not liable for defamation posted to a blog, even after the subject of the defamation gave notice that the post was defamatory. Google passed on the allegation to the blogger, who told Google the original post was true. The court said that Google was not in a position to adjudicate between the two claims (lies vs truth). The plaintiff still had her remedy against the blogger(s).

The case is Davison v Habeeb et al (including Google), [2011] EWHC 3031 (QB). A story about the case . . . [more]

This is another follow up to a previous Slaw post regarding IQT’s closure. In partnership with the Ontario Ministry of Labour (MOL), the Commission des normes du travail (CNT) and Revenu Québec (MRQ) filed a petition at the courthouse in Trois-Rivières to have IQT Ltée declared bankrupt under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act. This measure is designed to enable 163 former employees of the call centre in Trois-Rivières, and 400 former employees of the call centre in Oshawa, to avail themselves of the federal Wage Earner Protection Program (WEPP). The petition will be heard on December 20, 2011. . . . [more]

The European Court of Justice issued its breathlessly awaited (at least by some) decision in SABAM v. Scarlet today, striking a serious blow to those imposing intense international pressure with the objective of securing exceptional enforcement for intellectual property rights online. These efforts aim to leverage Internet intermediaries such as ISPs, hosting sites, domain name registrars and even individual blogging sites in order to stomp out any infringing activity occurring on the platforms they operate.

As these intermediaries process and host vast amounts of online conduct, they are uniquely placed to impose unprecedented levels of monitoring and control onto users . . . [more]

Hart v. Roman Catholic Episcopal Corporation of the Diocese of Kingston, in Canada, 2011 ONCA 728

[1] The appellant, Father Hart, is an ordained Roman Catholic priest. In 2004, the respondent … appointed Father Hart pastor to a church … for a renewable six-year term.

[2] In 2006, the Archdiocese became concerned about Father Hart’s business relationship with …. and about irregularities in parish finances. The Archdiocese proceeded to issue three decrees to Father Hart. In July 2006, it placed him on administrative leave. In May 2007, it suspended his faculties to exercise sacramental ministry. Then in June 2008, . . . [more]

Following my post earlier this week about the injunction obtained in New York, lawyers for the movement brought their own respective motions in B.C. and Ontario.

Associate Chief Justice Anne MacKenzie of the B.C. Supreme Court ruled on Friday that the protesters must leave the Vancouver site by tomorrow, and a similar injunction was granted in Victoria.

I attended the motion in Toronto on Friday, where the judge has reserved his decision until Monday. Justice Brown was extremely accommodating to members of the media, allowing non-disruptive recordings of the proceedings and the use of electronic equipment, including social media. . . . [more]

In a report released this week, a Royal Society of Canada Expert Panel proposes that assisted suicide and voluntary euthanasia should be decriminalized for competent individuals who make a free and informed decision that their life is no longer worth living.

The panel concludes:

1. That there is a moral right, grounded in autonomy, for competent and informed individuals who have decided after careful consideration of the relevant facts, that their continuing life is not worth living, to non-interference with requests for assistance with suicide or voluntary euthanasia.
2. That none of the grounds for denying individuals the enjoyment of their moral

. . . [more]

On November 8, 2011, the High Court of England and Wales ruled that a Catholic priest qualified as an employee of his diocese, thus exposing the diocese to vicarious liability for clergy sex abuse.

There’s an old saying among lawyers (and law profs) that claims “you can’t suck and blow at the same time.” But it would seem that inventor Sir James Dyson is managing to expel steam from his ears even while his vacuum cleaners continue to inhale a decent share of the “hoover” market. The reason for his turbulence is that his share has been somewhat lessened in Britain thanks to a recent decision of the court of appeal for England and Wales. In Dyson Ltd v Vax Ltd [2011] EWCA Civ 1206 the court decided not to overturn a trial . . . [more]

Perhaps the thorniest of emerging Internet legal and policy issues these days is the question of Internet intermediaries. It is a feature of the Internet that all online activity is intermediated through at least one and often several service providers, such as ISPs, social networking sites, blog hosting sites, etc. Standing at the crux of all this activity, intermediaries are uniquely placed to exert a great deal of control and surveillance over activities of downstream users, making them a compelling target for policy-makers and aggrieved plaintiffs alike. The Supreme Court of Canada’s recent seminal decision in Crookes v. Newton offers . . . [more]