Canadian Technology & IP Law : Canadian Technology Lawyers & Attorneys : Stikeman Elliott Law Firm : IP Law in Toronto, Montreal, Calgary, Ottawa & Vancouver

The arrival of 2012 marked the end of a year filled with numerous developments in technology and IP law. Taking a cue from the Canadian Communications Law blog, we’ve decided that this would be an excellent time to reflect on the past year and review some of its more notable developments. To that end, we’ve put together a list of the top 10 technology and IP law developments from the past year.

Without further ado, here are our picks for the top 10:

1. Court of Appeal recognizes reasonable expectation of privacy in contents of work computer - In R. v. Cole, a teacher discovered with nude images of a student on his work laptop was found by the Ontario Court of Appeal to have a reasonable expectation of privacy with respect to his personal files on that laptop.
    
2. No liability for defamation for basic hyperlinks, says Supreme Court - In a decision that came as a relief to bloggers, tweeters, webpage owners and other providers and hosts of internet content, the Supreme Court of Canada clarified in Crookes v. Newton that merely providing hyperlinks to defamatory content will not lead to liability for defamation.

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In the wake of a number of high-profile cybersecurity incidents, the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance recently released disclosure guidance on the topic of cybersecurity. While the guidance creates no new legal obligations, it is intended to provide clarity regarding the forms of disclosure that registrants may have to make. In the release, the Division of Corporation Finance recognized that while no current disclosure requirements explicitly refer to cybersecurity, there are a number of existing disclosure obligations that may require registrants to disclose cybersecurity risks or incidents.

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David Elder

In the latest chapter in the ongoing saga of the eligibility of foreign-backed telecommunications carriers to operate in Canada, the Federal Court of Canada has quashed a decision of the federal cabinet that found that Globalive Wireless Management Corp. (Globalive) met Canadian ownership requirements under the Telecommunications Act. 

The Court’s decision in the case of Public Mobile v. Attorney General of Canada et al  threatens the ability of a new wireless entrant to operate in Canada, effectively lowers the amount of foreign investment that is acceptable under Canadian ownership rules for telecom carriers and offers new guidance respecting the scope of the federal cabinet to overturn the decision of an administrative tribunal.

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In a Broadcasting Notice of Consultation issued on January 10, the CRTC indicated that it is seeking comments for the amendment of several regulations to allow for more leeway in broadcasting false or misleading news. According to the CRTC, it is considering these amendments because of the Parliament’s Standing Joint Committee’s concern that the existing prohibitions on broadcasting false or misleading news is too broad and vague. Fearing that it would not withstand a Charter challenge, the CRTC was urged by the Committee to revise the language of the regulations.

Currently the regulations prohibit the broadcasting of “any false or misleading news” whereas if the proposed language to the amendments were accepted, it would lower the standard to "any news that the licensee knows is false or misleading and that endangers or is likely to endanger the lives, health or safety of the public." In other words, a broadcaster would be permitted to air news that it knows is false or misleading as long as it does not endanger the lives, health or safety of the public.

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