Publications
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Limitation of insurer’s duty to defend: The Draft Regulation specifying the categories of contracts covered is published
On September 8, 2021, Mr. Éric Girard, Minister of Finance, presented his Draft Regulation specifying the classes of liability insurance contracts that may derogate from public policy rules previously applicable to liability insurance (the “Draft Regulation”), namely those set out in articles 2500 (…)
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Winkler v. Hendley: The Federal Court applies a subjective standard to the notion of “history”
“Historical facts”1 are not protected by copyright. Referring to the Storming of the Bastille or the Battle of the Plains of Abraham will not get an author sued in Federal Court, but must these events have really happened to be considered “historical facts”? The Federal Court recently ruled on this (…)
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Transportation infrastructure: A pillar of economic recovery
Like many other governments, the Government of Quebec decided to invest in infrastructure to help mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and stimulate Quebec’s economy. A significant number of investments will be made in the transportation sector, and the government wants to accelerate the (…)
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Bill 78 and the notion of ultimate beneficiary
Bill 78 was introduced in December 2020 by Minister Jean Boulet and given assent on June 8, 2021. It amends the Act respecting the legal publicity of enterprises (the “Act”) and its regulation, the Regulation respecting the application of the Act respecting the legal publicity of enterprises (the (…)
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Further Streamlining of Canadian Patent Examination on the Horizon
Canadian Patent Practice has undergone several changes in recent years, in many cases to fulfill the requirements of various international treaties/agreements, including those of the Patent Law Treaty (PLT) and the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA). On July 3, 2021, the Canadian (…)
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Insurer’s Duty to Defend: The Court Rules in a Case of Contractual Breach
The question of insurers’ duty to defend is back in the spotlight. On March 18, 2021, the Superior Court once again considered the issue in its application of the law to facts relevant to the dispute.1 Facts In April 2016, Cégerco Inc. (“Cégerco”), a general contractor, retained the services of (…)
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Steps to a successful venture capital financing round
An entrepreneur who invests time and energy raising the funds necessary to launch a startup, usually from family and friends (love money), will necessarily want their startup to grow exponentially. Achieving exponential growth requires always more capital, and so the entrepreneur will need to find (…)
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Entrepreneurs and Intellectual Property: Avoid These Thirteen Mistakes to Protect Yourself (Part 2 of 3)
In the second entry of this three-part article series, we share with you the next set of intellectual property (IP)–related mistakes (mistakes #6 to #9) that we regularly see with startups. We hope you will find it useful for your business. Please be sure to read our first entry in this series, (…)
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Crypto asset works of art and non-fungible token (NFT) investments: Be careful!
On March 11, 2021, Christie’s auction house made a landmark sale by auctioning off an entirely digital artwork by the artist Beeple, a $69 million transaction in Ether, a cryptocurrency.1 In doing so, the famous auction house put non-fungible tokens (“NFT”), the product of a decentralized (…)
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Five good reasons to list your company on the stock exchange and opt for equity financing
In 2020, the pandemic disrupted the Quebec economy and the trend continued in 2021. After a difficult year for local businesses, there is an opportunity for business owners to rethink their business model as they develop their recovery plan. In this context, an initial public offering and equity (…)
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Adoption of Bill 82: The insurer’s duty to defend can now be adjusted
On Thursday, May 27, 2021, article 2503 of the Civil Code of Québec was amended as part of the adoption of Bill 82, titled An Act respecting mainly the implementation of certain provisions of the budget speech of 10 March 2020, which we had discussedin a publication last December. The added (…)
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The Superior Court of Québec rules on de facto spouses and the right to use a residence during legal proceedings
In a judgment handed down on February 16, 2021, in a case involving former de facto spouses, the Superior Court dismissed an interlocutory injunction filed by the plaintiff seeking the eviction of the defendant from what had been their common residence. After having lived together in a de facto (…)
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Accelerated trademark examination – Canada
Good News from the Canadian Intellectual Property Office! CIPO is taking measures to allow expedited examination of trademark applications in the following cases: Upcoming or current court action in Canada; Combating counterfeit products at the Canadian border; Protecting intellectual property (…)