Publications
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What lessons can we take from the fatal accident in Arizona in 2018 involving an autonomous vehicle?
On March 18, 2018, in Tempe, Arizona, a vehicle being operated by self-driving software which was under development, collided with a pedestrian, causing her death. Following this accident, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board ("NTSB") conducted an investigation and, on November 19, 2019, (…)
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Amendments to the Labour Standards Act : What is the rule for paid leave?
The latest amendments to the Labour Standards Act (“LSA”) provide that, in certain specific circumstances, the employers must pay the first two days of absence of their employees instead of granting them a leave without pay. In some instances, employees claimed two additional days of paid leave (…)
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Labour shortage: answers to your questions about hiring a foreign worker
The labour shortage that affects Quebec as a whole as well as many other provinces has been a well-known issue for several years. Almost every week, we hear about companies that are forced to close their doors or limit their activities due to a lack of staff in positions of all nature. In order to (…)
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Intellectual property in open innovation and co-innovation in the field of artificial intelligence
Moving far beyond the traditional models of closed innovation, artificial intelligence is progressing by means of collaborations and exchanges, both with the academic world and between companies. In Canada, the United States and Europe, innovation has evolved in ways that have changed the very (…)
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5 keys to successfully sell your franchise system
Though it doesn’t happen often, some franchisors start a franchise system with the goal of selling it in the short or medium term. However, the quality of the infrastructure required to build a viable franchise system and the amount of resources (financial or other) that need to be invested over (…)
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What can be done to discipline a manager? Potential solutions to keep in mind
Except in cases of “serious misconduct,” managing a manager whose performance is unsatisfactory or whose conduct is inappropriate can be delicate. Because of workplace usage and practices in Quebec, disciplinary management of managers differs from that applied to other employees of the company. (…)
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Estoppel based on patent prosecution history in Canada: The Pandora’s box is opened
Nearly twenty years ago, the Supreme Court of Canada1 rejected the theory of estoppel based on a patent’s prosecution history, more commonly known as "file wrapper estoppel"2). At the time, Justice Binnie wrote, “[…]purposive construction, which keeps the focus on the language of the claims, seems (…)
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Bill 37: What changes can be expected for Public Contracts?
On September 18, 2019, the Minister Responsible for Government Administration and Chair of the Conseil du trésor introduced Bill 37, An Act mainly to establish the Centre d’acquisitions gouvernementales et Infrastructures technologiques Québec1 As its name suggests, this bill is intended to (…)
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Changes to the Canadian Patent Rules came into force on October 30th 2019
The new Patent Rules, as well as certain amendments to the Patent Act, came into force on October 30, 2019. These changes implement the Patent Law Treaty and reduce the risk to applicants of a loss of rights but also bring about practice changes worthy of mention. Canadian national phase of a PCT (…)
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Right to Privacy: Can the Employer conduct Surveillance?
On October 3, the Court of Appeal of Quebec overturned an arbitral decision in which videotaped surveillance of an employee, suspected of activities incompatible with her alleged disability, would not be admitted into evidence. The majority of the appeal court judges concluded that the employer was (…)
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Insurers’ Duty to Defend: The Court of Appeal makes a new ruling
The Court of Appeal of Quebec was once again called upon to rule on a Wellington type application aiming to force an insurer to defend its insureds1. Over the years, the scope of this duty has developed extensively in case law. In this particular case, the Court ordered that defence costs be (…)
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Neural Network and Liability: When the information lies in Hidden Layers
Many of the most advanced machine-learning techniques rely on artificial neural networks, which allow systems to "learn" tasks by considering examples, without being programmed specifically to perform those tasks. Neural networks are nothing new, however the emergence of deep learning1, and of (…)
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Autonomous Air Vehicles : Are they at the gates of our cities?
For many years now, we have been discussing the arrival of autonomous vehicles on Quebec roads. Thus, in April 2018, the government amended the Highway Safety Code1 to adapt it to the particularities of these new vehicles However, the automotive sector is not the only one being transformed by (…)