On May 16, 2016, the Québec Court of Appeal adjudicated1 on whether a professional liability insurer can plead the nullity of a policy based on misrepresentations or concealment of facts by the insured. This decision is of interest because it addresses the novel issue of whether a liability insurer can claim the nullity of an insurance contract where it is compulsory for the insured to hold such insurance under the applicable legislation ...
Pierre Denis, Étienne Brassard, Benjamin David Gross and Sibylle Ferreira, whose practices focus on business law, financing and aeronautics, contributed to the development of a Q&A guide entitled Aviation finance in Canada: overview and published in the first edition of Practical Law’s Aviation Finance Global Guide ...
Many people could hardly imagine planning their vacations without considering online vacation rental community platforms. And those who have property available for use might find it just as difficult to resist the temptation to increase their revenues by advertising their room, apartment, house or country home on sites like Airbnb, Homeaway and Chaletsauquébec ...
Last May 10, the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Land Occupancy, Martin Coiteux, announced the tabling of several amendments to Bill 83 dealing with various legislative provisions on municipal matters. These amendments pertain to the recommendations contained in the report of the Charbonneau Commission ...
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 financing might be a good idea ...
The Educational Childcare Regulation1 (the "Regulation") requires every permit holder to ensure that each member of its childcare staff holds a certificate not older than 3 years which must have been obtained through the successful completion of an early childhood first-aid course of a minimum of 8 hours. Following the amendment of the Regulation of April 1, 20162, an additional component concerning the management of severe allergic reactions was added to this training obligation: 20 ...
The Autonomous Bus and Minibus Pilot Project 1 (the “Pilot Project”) came into effect in Quebec recently. The project provides guidelines for the regulated driving of the first autonomous vehicles on Quebec’s roads ...
In Yves Choueifaty v. Attorney General of Canada 1 , the Federal Court of Canada has issued a significant decision concerning the assessment of patent-eligible subject matter, including the approach to be used for such assessment during the examination of Canadian patent applications ...
There is currently speculation in the media that Liberal Finance Minister Bill Morneau's next federal budget will increase the capital gain inclusion rate from 50% to 75%. The combined marginal tax rate on capital gains is currently 26.7% for a resident of Québec. This rate would reach nearly 40% if the budget was to increase the capital gain inclusion rate to 75%. A $1,000,000 capital gain would thus generate approximately $133,000 in additional taxes ...
On April 7, 2022, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland tabled the federal government?s new budget for 2022. This budget includes several tax measures relevant to the mining industry in Canada. The Canadian federal government intends to provide $3.8 billion over eight years to implement Canada?s first critical minerals strategy ...
On January 11, 2016, Vadim Kazenelson, a project manager for Metron Construction Corporation (“Metron”), was sentenced to three and a half years in prison.1 This sentence follows the decision rendered on June 26, 2015 in which the Superior Court of Ontario found Mr. Kazenelson guilty of the five charges against him, including four counts of criminal negligence causing death and one count of criminal negligence causing bodily harm ...
In general, the directors and officers of a legal person have obligations and responsibilities relating to the legal person?s activities. Each director must act with prudence, diligence, honesty, loyalty and in the legal person?s interest.1 Each officer is responsible for representing the legal person and directing its activities ...
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 ...
In the third and final entry of this three-part article series, we share with you the last set of intellectual property (IP)?related mistakes (mistakes #10 to #13) that we regularly see with startups. We hope you will find it useful for your business. Please be sure to read our first and second entries in this series, where we go over mistakes #1 to #5 and #6 to #9, respectively ...
E-commerce can take different forms, but for the purposes of this article, we will refer to e-commerce where the contract of sale or of supply of services is concluded by electronic means ...
Artificial intelligence technologies are extremely promising in healthcare.1 By examining, cross-referencing and comparing a phenomenal amount of data.2 AI lets researchers work more quickly at a lower cost3 and facilitates doctors’ decision-making with regard to diagnosis, treatment and choice of prescription. The integration of AI into the healthcare field can take various forms:4 Management of electronic medical records (e.g ...
Prior user rights have long been recognized in Canadian patent law. These rights, which are a defence against patent infringement, are seen as a means of ensuring fairness by allowing a person who has independently manufactured, used or acquired an invention that is subsequently patented to continue using the invention ...
Do you have the right to copy source code written and developed by someone else? The answer to this question depends on the situation; however, even in the context of open innovation, intellectual property rights will be the starting point for any analysis required to obtain such an answer. In the software industry, open-source licences allow anyone to access the source code of corresponding software, free of charge and with few restrictions ...
In a decision rendered on December 1, 2016, the Superior Court of Québec had to rule on a situation which, until that time, was completely novel, and to determine whether lawyers can act in a court action against former employees of a client whom they still have to work with in connection with another related proceeding. The Court declared that the lawyers were disqualified ...
The case of Wilson v. Atomic Energy of Canada Limited1 came to a close on July 14, 2016, when the Supreme Court of Canada (the ?Supreme Court?) reversed a controversial Federal Court of Appeal decision in which it had been held that a dismissal without cause was not necessarily an ?unjust dismissal? under the Canada Labour Code (?the Code?) ...
While the Canadian government has said it intends to pass legislation dealing with cybersecurity (see Bill C-26 to enact the Critical Cyber Systems Protection Act), many companies have already taken significant steps to protect their IT infrastructure. However, the Internet of Things is too often overlooked in this process. This is in spite of the fact that many devices are directly connected to the most important IT infrastructure for businesses ...
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 blockchain, in the spotlight ...
It goes without saying that the economic upheavals caused by the COVID-19 pandemic are posing countless challenges for all companies, whether or not they are pursuing their activities within the limits imposed by the governments of Canada and Quebec. Food producers such as agricultural and food processing businesses, considered by the Quebec government to be essential services, are not exempt from this harsh reality ...
The deficits being generated by the emergency measures that the federal and provincial governments have implemented since March 2020 are a reminder of the magnitude of our governments' pre-crisis deficits. This situation will inevitably lead to a greater tax burden for businesses and individuals at some point ...
It’s been more than a year since the COVID-19 pandemic began, and many companies are attempting to market products intended to help consumers deal with the risks associated with COVID-19. Some of the most common examples of such products include face masks, testing devices, hand sanitizers, and hard-surface disinfectants ...
