Publications
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Deceptive Online Marketing Practices: Intermediaries, what is your legal exposure?
In recent decades, online advertising has become the single most efficient and interactive way to reach consumers and assess their behaviour. While television and print audiences continue to dwindle and overall marketing strategies that focus on these mediums are less able to effectively measure and (…)
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Practice in a specialized medical centre: limits to the freedom of association of physicians based on their status as participants or non participants
On June 1 of this year, the Québec Court of Appeal1 confirmed a decision of the Superior Court of Québec which had ruled that physicians who participate in the health insurance regime and physicians who do not cannot work together in a same specialized medical centre. In this case, the plaintiffs (…)
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Medical use claims not involving the professional skill of a physician are patent-eligible in Canada.
In a previous newsletter 1, we discussed a change in Canadian patent practice in respect of the patent-eligibility of claims relating to medical uses, further to a decision from the Federal Court 2. Following this decision, the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) issued a revised Practice (…)
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Coming into force of the Act to amend various legislation mainly with respect to admission to professions and the governance of the professional system (Bill 98)
On June 6, 2017, Bill 98, entitled An Act to amend various legislation mainly with respect to admission to professions and the governance of the professional system (the “Act”) was passed by the National Assembly, then assented to by the Lieutenant Governor two days after. This statute, whose main (…)
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The award of moral damages following a collective dismissal
A recent Superior Court decision in Peintures Industrielles Évotech1 ruled that the grievance arbitrator had acted within his jurisdiction in awarding moral damages to employees dismissed abruptly when the Company moved its operations to Ontario. Context of the Évotech case Évotech, which (…)
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Latest developments in the Canadian infrastructure market / The privatization of Canadian airports: Why, how and what is at stake? / Canada Infrastructure Bank Act: highlights
TABLE OF CONTENTS Latest developments in the Canadian infrastructure market Ontario introduces a balanced budget which includes $30 billion in infrastructure investments Nova Scotia introduces its second balanced budget and increases investments in highways New LNG production (…)
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Global Skills Strategy – Latest Developments in Workforce Mobility
In November 2016, the federal government announced the launch of a Global Skills Strategy (the "Strategy"), with the goal of stimulating Canada’s economic growth and, as a result, increasing employment opportunities for all Canadians. On June 12, 2017, in order to maximize the positive impact of the (…)
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The Promise Doctrine is Struck Down by the Supreme Court of Canada
On June 30th, 2017, in a landmark decision, the Supreme Court of Canada rejected the relatively new so-called “promise doctrine”. The lower courts had found the patent invalid based on this doctrine in that the patent specification attributed certain advantages to the invention that were not soundly (…)
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Dividing up of certified bargaining units – The Québec Court of Appeal calls into question the automatic application of traditional criteria
By way of two decisions 1 handed down jointly on May 8th of this year, the Québec Court of Appeal held that it is no longer appropriate to mechanically apply the existing analytical framework regarding the criteria for the division of a bargaining unit. Based on principles recently stated by the (…)
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Legislative amendments regarding conservation of wetlands and bodies of water: troubled waters for developers?
Bill 132 respecting the conservation of wetlands and bodies of water, passed unanimously by the National Assembly on June 16th of this year, is in keeping with the context of a significant modernization of environmental laws in Québec. Most of its provisions come into force immediately. Described (…)
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Bill 143: Salient points regarding educational childcare services
On June 16th of this year, Mr. Sébastien Proulx, Minister of Education, Recreation and Sports and Minister of Families, presented Bill 143 1 to improve the educational quality and foster the harmonious development of educational childcare services (the “Bill”). The Bill proposes amendments to the (…)
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A picture is worth a thousand woes!
A recent Federal Court decision 1 reiterates the importance of protecting the main design elements featured on products and packaging. This decision also recalls the dangers of too closely mimicking the appearance of a competitor’s products. Goudreau Gage Dubuc, one of the leading (…)
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Business Succession Planning: Transfer, Financing and Planning
Have you built a prosperous business through your hard work and perseverance? Are you the kind of entrepreneur who invests countless hours in growing your business? Every business owner must one day plan for the succession of his business, whether with a view to his retirement, to sell the business (…)