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Blawg Briefs
Product labelling with expired patent numbers can lead to lawsuits in the U.S.

A recent U.S. appeals court decision has permitted a bow-tie wearing (and purchasing) patent attorney to take Brooks Brothers to court for selling bow ties marked with expired patent numbers.

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consumer products
expired patents
manufacturing
patents
     

Authors

Ken Clark
It’s 2010 – Do You Know Where Your Personal Information Is?

If you're a "Facebooker" or on any other social or professional networking sites, you may want to consider your answer.

Thanks to our friends in Winnipeg, on Friday, June 2, 2010 a class action lawsuit was filed against Facebook in Manitoba's Court of Queen’s Bench. The lawsuit claimed Facebook wronged its members by contravening more than a dozen laws. Some of those laws are statutory and some, perhaps more interesting, are common law based.

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Class Action
Facebook
Manitoba’s Court of Queen’s Bench
personal information
privacy
social networking
     

Authors

K. Paige Backman
A Knock Out to State Farm!
Common sense prevailed in heavyweight showdown. Further to my post on April 8, the Federal Court of Canada issued its ruling a few days ago, ending the battle between State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company and the Privacy Commissioner of Canada. The FCC's conclusion provides significant guidance on PIPEDA's application to litigation and to other areas where whether or not something is a commercial activity is fuzzy. Full Article With Comments...

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Commercial Activity
constitutional challenge
personal information
PIPEDA
privacy
Privacy Commission
State Farm
     

Authors

K. Paige Backman
Canada’s Strength is Showing in Many Ways

With the G8/G20 meetings keeping many of us who work in the Canadian M&A services sector away from our workplaces on Bay Street, they give us time to reflect on some of the information we’ve received and the data points we’ve seen in the last couple of months.

Recent survey data, transaction information and financial flows suggest that Canadians companies have become active acquirers of business assets outside of Canada. Perhaps this shouldn’t be surprising to anyone, but being able to reflect upon the facts supporting it is gratifying nonetheless.

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foreign investment
G8 and G20
investing
M&A
private equity
venture capital
     

Authors

Randy Williamson
Lawsuits on Main Street: The Threat and Possible Danger for Municipal Infrastructure

Two recent lawsuits have fired warning shots across the bow of local governments and transit authorities who are seeking to drive ahead with large infrastructure projects. The lawsuits – one successful but under appeal and the other a class action suit – have been filed by business owners who allege that they have been negatively affected by transit construction projects. If successful, these suits will markedly alter the environment in which local infrastructure projects gain approval and proceed through to completion.

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Class Action
local government
municipal projects
nuisance
public infrastructure
transit
     

Authors

John Mascarin
LimeWire and its CEO taken to the canvas. Score one pyrrhic victory for the RIAA.
Last Tuesday, in a summary judgement decision of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, the internet file-sharing service LimeWire (similar to Napster) was rightfully found to have been inducing infringement of thousands, if not millions, of music files. Wired magazine has helpfully posted a PDF of the decision here. Full Article With Comments...

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copyright policy
copyright reform
digital downloads
digital music
file sharing
LimeWire
music licensing
Napster
RIAA
     

Authors

Ken Clark
Have You Sold Your Soul?

7,500 people have, by contract.

GameStation, a British company, owns the souls of 7,500 customers after GameStation inserted an "immortal soul" clause in its online contract. The contract provides that customers grant the company the right to claim their souls.

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contracts
GameStation
online contracts
selling your soul
     

Authors

K. Paige Backman
IFPI illogically blames “weak legal system” in Canada for declines in music sales. Does not reference cassingle sales for some reason.

The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, (IFPI) a recording industry association, released its Recording Industry In Numbers press release on April 28, 2010.

Although overall music sales and sales of (shall we say obsolescent?) physical media declined, sales of digital forms of music, live music sales and songwriters’ copyright revenues continued to grow.

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Canadian copyright law
copyright reform
digital music
music industry
music licensing
     

Authors

Ken Clark
The Buzz on Google Buzz: Stoddart and Her Buddies Tackle Google

Canada’s Privacy Commissioner, Jennifer Stoddart, and her privacy commissioner friends from France, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Holland, New Zealand (where is Old Zealand, anyway?), Spain and the United Kingdom have written an open letter to Google’s Chairman and CEO, Eric Schmidt.

I’ll bet they found out who he was by Googling him.

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Eric Schmidt
Google Buzz
Google Buzz privacy
Google executives
Google privacy
Google Street View privacy
Jennifer Stoddart
personal information
personally identifiable information
privacy
Privacy Commission
     

Authors

Donald Johnston
Green is the Hot Colour of the Season
The Ontario Power Authority recently announced the awarding of 184 contracts to purchase approximately 2,500 megawatts of renewable power. If all facilities are built, the construction investment will be approximately $7 billion over the next five years. The government has also announced a series of transmission projects to further spur investment in renewable power. Is this building boom sustainable? If so, for how long? Will Ontario be successful in transforming its manufacturing economy to a "green economy?" Full Article With Comments...

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green economy
OPA
renewable power
transmission project
     

Authors

Scott Stoll
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