Publications

October 25, 2019

Changes to the Canadian Patent Rules came into force on October 30^th 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 (…)

October 24, 2019

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 (…)

October 11, 2019

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 (…)

October 8, 2019

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 (…)

October 3, 2019

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 (…)

September 24, 2019

New Compensation Method: Employee Benefit Trust Replacing Stock Option Plans

Nowadays, many employers are seeking out forms of compensation that will help motivate and retain key employees. More and more, employers are opting for one of a variety of company stock ownership profit-sharing plans to reach this objective. Employers who wish to implement this type of structure (…)

August 27, 2019

Duty of Loyalty and Non-competition: What are your Rights and Duties to Protect your Interests?

During Major Symposium in Montréal held on June 4, our colleagues Michel Desrosiers and Ariane Villemaire discussed the employees’ duty of loyalty under the Civil Code of Québec. In their presentation, they discussed the case of Xit Télécom Inc. and Madysta Constructions Ltée v. Beaumier et al.1 on (…)

August 13, 2019

Conclusion of the Supervac 2000 saga: Dismissal is part of the inherent risks of a workplace

The Administrative Labour Tribunal (“ALT”) has ruled on the merits of the Supervac 20001 case, putting an end to the saga dealing with interpreting the part of section 326 of the Act respecting Industrial Accidents and Occupational Diseases (“AIAOD”) that concerns applications for transfer of costs (…)

August 6, 2019

The Court of Appeal hands down its decision in the Kativik case: A second chance for poor performance employees?

Does an employer have to make reasonable efforts to reassign an employee to another suitable position before proceeding to dismissal due to poor performance? This issue has been the cause of a great jurisprudential controversy, especially since the Superior Court rendered its decision in Kativik1.  (…)

July 31, 2019

A Decision of Interest to the Entertainment Industry

Is an event organizer responsible for an artist’s late appearance? Context is key, answers the Superior Court’s, as it dismisses the application for authorization to institute a class action against Gestion Evenko Inc.1 regarding Travis Scott’s late appearance at the Osheaga Music and Arts Festival (…)

July 31, 2019

New notification process at the Trademarks Office

The new provisions of the Trademarks Act allow for earlier intervention with the Registrar in an attempt to prevent the registration of trademarks that create confusion with registered or applied-for trademarks through a notification system. As the owner of pending or registered trademarks in (…)

July 26, 2019

Employers: What is defamation and how do you protect your reputation?

At a time when it is becoming harder to distinguish true information from fake news and when a photo posted on social media can travel the world, companies are eager to do all they can to protect their image. What about when it’s your own employees who tarnish your company's reputation? Defamatory (…)

July 23, 2019

Cyberattack: Superior Court dismisses application for authorization to institute a class action against Yahoo! Inc.

The Superior Court of Québec dismissed an application for authorization to institute a class action against Yahoo! Inc.1 (hereinafter “Yahoo!”) seeking damages as a result of cyberattacks that compromised the confidentiality of user data. Context In September 2016, Yahoo! issued a press release (…)