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Comme vous le savez peut-être, Éducaloi est un site d’information juridique grand public qui explique le droit en vigueur dans la province du Québec au Canada. Cette phrase peut sembler anodine, mais chacun de ces mots compte. Dans cette chronique, je vous expose un problème lié à cette première affirmation, auquel nous avons récemment fait face.

La partie « site d’information juridique grand public », vous comprenez. Nous informons le public sur leurs droits et leurs obligations, et ce, dans un langage simple et accessible. Là où ça se corse, c’est dans la seconde partie . . . [more]

When Apple released the iPhone 4 in the U.S. in June 2010, some customers quickly noticed some problems. The phone’s case, which doubled as an antenna, gave variable reception depending on how the phone was held. Apple held a press conference 3 weeks later, providing free replacement cases or the option to return the phone to users who requested it within a 2-month period.

American customers who did not take up this initial offer subsequently launched 18 separate class-action lawsuits against Apple, alleging “misrepresenting and concealing material information in the marketing, advertising, sale, and servicing of its iPhone 4–particularly as . . . [more]

Durnin & Fisher v Victoria Hospital, 2012 ONSC 320*

Summary (added Feb. 19, 2012)

The Supreme Court of Canada stated in R. v. Sheppard, [2002] 1 S.C.R. 869 at para. 24, 2002 SCC 26 that

at the trial level, the reasons justify and explain the result. The losing party knows why he or she has lost. Informed consideration can be given to grounds for appeal. Interested members of the public can satisfy themselves that justice has been done, or not, as the case may be.

It is my opinion that the reasons in this case do not adequately . . . [more]

Well, as Simon Chester alerted us it would, CanLII has just now clicked the odometer over as the millionth judgment comes on line. Here’s the graphic evidence (courtesy of Colin Lachance):

Fittingly, perhaps, the millionth judgment was an opinion from the Supreme Court, S.L. v. Commission scolaire des Chênes 2012 SCC 7.

That’s a whole lot of precedent. Use it wisely, Canada. . . . [more]

Imagine my chagrin: there I am in a linguistics class in second or third year university and for the first time in my life I pronounce the word “ubiquitous”—only I don’t. What I say is more or less “you-bi-QUEE-shus.” Well.

It’s that way with some words, even for those with big vocabs. Written and spoken English are two different languages, after all, and we don’t always get to say what we see in cosy company. That’s where “misles” comes in. It’s not hard to imagine someone pronouncing “misled” as “MYzld,” particularly someone learning English. But even the best of the . . . [more]

A few weeks ago, Connie Crosby wrote about the challenge for law librarians in earning a law degree, especially if they’re already working in a law library and don’t want to attend law school full time. Around the same time, John Papadopoulos wrote about how the Legal Literature and Librarianship class at the University of Toronto’s Information School is always oversubscribed. It appears there is an opportunity here to fill.

After many years of planning, last June, the Canadian Association of Law Libraries/Association canadienne des bibliothèques de droit presented a week long program called the New Law Librarians’ Institute. . . . [more]

This is a post in a series appearing each Friday, setting out some articles, videos, podcasts and the like that contributors at Slaw are enjoying and that you might find interesting. The articles tend to be longer than blog posts and shorter than books, just right for that stolen half hour on the weekend. It’s also likely that most of them won’t be about law — just right for etc.

Please let us have your recommendations for what we and our readers might like.

. . . [more]

Last week, the International Bar Association (IBA) published The Impact of Online Social Networking on the Legal Profession and Practice, the first comprehensive report on the potential impact of online social networking within the legal profession.

The IBA conducted a 31-question survey of some 60 bar associations and/or law societies from 47 jurisdictions (all continents were represented). Questions were related to the appropriateness of the use of online social networks by legal actors, with a particular focus on judges and lawyers.

Among the highlights:

• Almost 70 per cent of respondents felt that it is acceptable for lawyers and judges

. . . [more]

Getting the word out about copyright compliance is never easy; once a year you can be part of an international trend and plan a copyright education and awareness day with posters, discussions and more. The Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) has helpful archives from its 2011 Copyright Day.

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) lists three “special days”:

1. World Intellectual Property Day. April 26 is a day to highlight creativity and innovation in all of our lives. WIPO has press releases, posters, bookmarks and special publications to help member States celebrate this day. The 2012 theme is: Visionary

. . . [more]

The Association of American Publishers announced yesterday that they have successfully taken two websites offline that were freely distributing copyrighted e-books. One of these sites, library.nu, was said to contain more than 400,000 protected digital works.

PaidContent.org has a post up describing how publishers are banding together to fight against book piracy, similar to the battles the RIA has fought over the past decade. The piece also correctly notes how this takedown was conducted without any new legislative powers, such as those in the failed US SOPA bill.

But perhaps the best read of the bunch (at least for . . . [more]

Following the increased occurrence of bullying in schools among Canadian youths aged 11 to 16, and high-profile suicides of young persons due to bullying, several jurisdictions in Canada are in the process of enacting anti-bullying laws. The aim of the laws is...

My first article asked, “Where have all the articling students gone?” One of the posted comments prompted this article. The comment was:

When Gen Ys do come to you for advice on how to start researching an issue, where do you get them to look first? Classic texts, online texts or search engines of the literature or cases?

It’s not the resource that determines the advice I provide, it’s the question itself. Most often my advice is straightforward: start broadly with secondary sources, use those to narrow your research, and then finish off updating with primary sources, i.e. case law . . . [more]