Legal Feeds in April 2018

When a crisis arose in airports across the world in the wake of U.S. President Donald Trump’s travel ban in June of 2017, hundreds of lawyers from across Canada mobilized to help those in need.

The Canadian Cross-Border Legal Coalition were honoured this week for their work providing legal aid to people affected by the ban. They received the Ontario Bar Association’s President’s Award, which commends an organization that has contributed to the advancement of justice in Ontario or elsewhere. They were recognized by the association’s president, Quinn Ross, for their efforts to provide legal knowledge and document the experiences of those people stranded in airports and foreign countries during the ban.

 “The CCBLC just jumped in and just did the best that lawyers do,” says Ross. “They went where the need was and they ensured to the extent possible that people who were being marginalized by the unjust and ill conceived executive orders were provided the best possible help.”

While there is no one-size-fits-all approach to intellectual property management, a new study says having an integrated IP strategy is vital for companies that create innovative products.

The federal government unveiled an IP strategy for Canadian companies Thursday that helps businesses apply legal tools to protect their IP.

An IP strategy focuses on the individual needs of a particular business and integrates the different types of IP protection that are available, such as trademarks, patents, copyright or trade secrets.

A Toronto-based condo lawyer is changing the voting game for condo corporations in Ontario.

Denise Lash and her new company, CondoVoter, are making it possible for owners and investors to vote electronically.

“It sort of came to me out of the frustration that people have in the industry about the voting process,” she says.

The Court of Appeal for Ontario has provided guidance as to which doctrine of undue influence should be applied when a will is contested.

In Seguin v. Pearson, 2018 ONCA 355, a unanimous appellate court dismissed the appeal of a decision by Justice Hugh O’Connell of the Superior Court of Justice, who found no reason to interfere with the will of a deceased man who left the bulk of his estate to his long-time common law spouse.

“The Court of Appeal for Ontario has directly addressed the issue of which test [for undue influence] should be applied to a will,” says Lionel Tupman of WEL Partners, a wills and estates firm in Toronto, who represented the respondent in the appeal.

Four years after Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation was enacted, the Ministry of Innovation, Science and Economic Development has pledged to change it, in response to a parliamentary committee, which pointed to glaring flaws that were creating confusion for those trying to comply with the law.

In December of last year, the standing committee on industry, science and technology delivered a report to Parliament titled “Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation: Clarifications are in Order.”

“Basically, CASL is well-intentioned legislation that was poorly executed. It is overly prescriptive, overly broad and has penalties that, if applied as written, can lead to disproportionate penalties on companies who are trying to comply,” says Michael Fekete, partner at Osler Hoskin & Harcourt LLP.

When lawyer Young Lee first saw someone lying on the pavement in North York’s Mel Lastman Square, he wondered if there had been a shooting.

But it soon became clear that something else had happened.

The square was one of a number of locations along Yonge Street in northern Toronto where a driver mowed down pedestrians in broad daylight Monday afternoon.