• Posts by Mark E. Fancourt-Smith
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    Mark's practice encompasses a broad range of commercial disputes, including technology and intellectual property litigation, protection of trade secrets, breaches of fiduciary obligation, and fraud. He has particular ...

In most cases, a plaintiff seeking an interim or interlocutory injunction is required to give an undertaking as to damages. The purpose of this practice is to ensure that the defendant will be adequately compensated in the event that the injunction is granted, but the plaintiff is ultimately unable to prove its case on its merits. The defendant may suffer damages (such as lost ...

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Posted in Defamation, Media

Negative reviews posted on websites such as Better Business Bureau, Yelp, Glassdoor, and Facebook can be devastating to companies, and perhaps even fatal to small businesses and sole practitioners who rely on goodwill and word of mouth recommendations. Although the ill effects of a single negative review may be mitigated in cases where it is outweighed by positive ...

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Posted in Copyright, Media

In Rogers Communications Inc. v. Voltage Pictures, LLC (2018 SCC 38), a unanimous Supreme Court of Canada recently held that Rogers Communications Inc., an Internet service provider (“ISP”), was entitled to recover reasonable costs of complying with a Norwich order from Voltage Pictures LLC, the copyright owner. The Court remitted the matter to the motion court to ...

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Many assume that, with the advent of privacy statutes, companies have been required to notify their customers, or the relevant statutory authority, in the case of a data breach or improper accessing of customer data.  However, to date, for the vast majority of provinces and territories in Canada, that has not been the case, and the choice of whether or not to tell even those ...

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Can a court bind something that knows no bounds? The Supreme Court of Canada did just that recently when it upheld a British Columbia Court of Appeal decision to grant an interlocutory worldwide injunction against Google, requiring it to de-index certain websites from its global search results, where such websites were being used to sell merchandise in violation of several ...

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Introduction

In Vancouver Community College v Vancouver Career College (Burnaby) 2017 BCCA 41, the British Columbia Court of Appeal found that Vancouver Community College (“VCC”) had established the tort of passing off against Vancouver Career College (“Career College”) for using “VCC” and “VCCollege” as part of Career College’s internet ...

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Posted in Constitutional

In its first decision of 2017, the Supreme Court of Canada addressed the likelihood of successful damages claims against quasi-judicial boards pursuant to s. 24 of the Charter. In a 4-4-1 split decision, the Court ultimately dismissed the appeal and struck the appellant’s claim for damages. Given the nature of the split decision, and the fact-specific basis for the ...

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Posted in Privacy

On November 17, 2016, the Supreme Court of Canada (the “SCC”) released its decision in Royal Bank of Canada v. Trang, 2016 SCC 50. This case involved the proper interpretation of certain disclosure exceptions in the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, S.C. 2000, c.5 (“PIPEDA”).

Writing for a unanimous court, Justice Côté overturned ...

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On September 15, 2016, the Supreme Court of Canada (the “SCC) released its decision in Ledcor Construction Ltd. v Northbridge Indemnity Insurance (2016 SCC 37). In its decision, the Court considered the appropriate standard of review for standard form contracts, as well as the proper interpretation of an insurance policy exclusion clause.

Writing for all but Justice ...

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On February 18, 2016, the Supreme Court of Canada granted Google leave to appeal the decision of the British Columbia Court of Appeal in the case of Google Inc. v. Equustek Solutions Inc., 2015 BCCA 265, a case previously discussed on this blog in October 2014 while it was before the Court of Appeal.  The appeal will have important ramifications for companies seeking to protect ...

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This blog is authored by members of the Litigation and Dispute Resolution Department. We follow new and interesting issues emerging in the legal and business communities. The wide range of experience among the members of our litigation group will provide a diverse and insightful examination of current legal trends and topics. Our goal is to provide a source of valuable information and insight on a wide variety of matters for our readers.

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