Publications
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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 (…)
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Entrepreneurs and Intellectual Property: Avoid These Thirteen Mistakes to Protect Yourself (Part 1 of 3)
In this three-part article series, we will share with you the intellectual property (IP)–related mistakes that we regularly see with startups. We hope you will find it useful for your business. Happy reading! Part 1 of 3: Mistakes concerning IP in general Mistake #1: Believing (…)
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Reimbursement clause for extrajudicial fees by a surety: valid or invalid?
On April 6, 2021, the Court of Appeal, per Justice Mark Schrager, rendered an interesting decision in Bank of Nova Scotia c. Davidovit (2021 QCCA 551). The Bank of Nova Scotia (the “Bank”) had granted a commercial loan to a company, of which Aaron Davidovit (“Davidovit” or the “Surety”) was the (…)
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Loss of personal information: The Superior Court dismisses a class action
On March 26, 2021, the Superior Court rendered a decision dismissing a class action against the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (“IIROC”) on the loss of personal information of thousands of Canadian investors.1 The lack of evidence of compensable injury and IIROC’s diligent (…)