Health and longevity

Health and longevity: help to keep your new years resolutionsHealth and longevity: help to keep your new years resolutions

January 4, 2022January 4, 2022 Barry SookmanBarry Sookman 0 Comments

It is a new year. Many of you may have made resolutions to become healthier. But, knowing how to promote health and longevity is no easy task.  People often ask me how I stay young and sharp with all the energy it takes to practice in a challenging technology, intellectual property and privacy law practice at one of Canada’s leading (if not the leading) law firm, McCarthy Tetrault. In short, I have developed strategies for promoting longevity (aka a longer lifespan) and promoting good health while aging (aka health span).…

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Bill 64 outsourcing

Getting ready for Quebec’s Bill 64 privacy law impacts on outsourcingGetting ready for Quebec’s Bill 64 privacy law impacts on outsourcing

December 2, 2021December 2, 2021 Barry SookmanBarry Sookman 0 Comments

The passage of Bill 64 (the Act to Modernize Legislative Provisions respecting the Protection of Personal Information) will have major consequences for companies doing business in the province that engage in outsourcing. Outsourcing involving transfers, communications, or disclosures of personal information to third parties (referred to here as “disclosures”) and is extremely common in Quebec and Canada. The types of outsourcings vary considerably and includes payment processing, IT services, artificial intelligence (AI) services (and there are many of these), business processing outsourcing, and a myriad of different types of cloud computing.…

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Blockchain vulnerabilities

Blockchain vulnerabilities – crypto hacks, blockchain forensics and legal challengesBlockchain vulnerabilities – crypto hacks, blockchain forensics and legal challenges

November 19, 2021November 19, 2021 Barry SookmanBarry Sookman 0 Comments

It is often assumed that blockchain based digital currencies and applications are safe and secure. In fact, blockchain ecosystems including cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin and Ether, smart contracts that power a plethora of transactions, and blockchain exchanges have many vulnerabilities. Like many other financial systems, blockchain based systems are subject to all manner of hacks, frauds, scams, and vulnerabilities. They happen at the speed and anonymity of the Internet. There are, understandably, numerous legal challenges when it comes to obtaining civil remedies for these Internet based crimes.…

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Copyright and IOT and AI

Copyright, AI and IOT: my submission to the consultationCopyright, AI and IOT: my submission to the consultation

September 20, 2021September 20, 2021 Barry SookmanBarry Sookman 0 Comments

Here is a copy of my submission to the copyright consultation on the implications of AI and IOT on copyright.

Thank you for providing an opportunity to provide input into the  Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IOT) copyright consultation.

The copyright consultation raises important issues. The government should be cautious before making any amendments to the Copyright Act given the complexity of the issues and the difficulty in assessing how the changes would work in practice.

Background

I am Senior counsel in the Technology Law Group of McCarthy Tetrault LLP.…

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OSFI Advisory tightens technology and cyber security incident reporting requirementsOSFI Advisory tightens technology and cyber security incident reporting requirements

August 16, 2021August 16, 2021 Barry SookmanBarry Sookman 0 Comments

The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) just released updated requirements governing how federally regulated financial institutions (FRFIs) should disclose and report technology and cyber security incidents to OSFI. The Advisory, which affects federally regulated banks, insurance companies, and credit unions, replaces the January 2019 Cyber Security Incident Reporting Advisory, which came into effect in March 2019. With the simultaneous release of OSFI’s updated Cyber Security Self-Assessment, OSFI has considerably tightened its requirements demonstrating an increasing concern with the potential impacts of cybersecurity on the financial system and on individual financial institutions.…

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Fair dealing

Certified tariffs not mandatory says SCOC in York v Access Copyright Certified tariffs not mandatory says SCOC in York v Access Copyright 

August 3, 2021August 3, 2021 Barry SookmanBarry Sookman 0 Comments

The Supreme Court released another landmark copyright decision in York University v. Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency (Access Copyright), 2021 SCC 32. The decision, affirmed the decision of the Court of Appeal that held that certified tariffs are not mandatory on users who refuse to accept them. In addition, the Court further developed its fair dealing framework adopted in CCH v Law Society (CCH),  Alberta (Education) and SOCAN v Bell Canada (SOCAN). In obiter dicta, the Court suggested that at the second stage of the fair dealing analysis where the allowable purpose is higher education, the purposes of both students and the educational institution should be taken into account rather than just the perspective of the university as the trial judge and the Court of Appeal had held.…

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NFTs and intellectual property

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and intellectual property rightsNon-fungible tokens (NFTs) and intellectual property rights

June 28, 2021June 28, 2021 Barry SookmanBarry Sookman 0 Comments

I had the pleasure of speaking at a webinar organized by the Canadian Blockchain Consortium on the topic of The Regulatory and Legal implications of NFTs. My focus was on non-fungible tokens (or NFTs) and intellectual property rights. Below are my speaking notes which set out my views on whether all the claims about NFTs are true, whether NFTs verify the authenticity of physical or digital assets, what do people buy when the acquire NFTs and what can they do with them, and do creators, sellers and buyers of NFTs need to worry about intellectual property issues.…

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Copyright blocking orders

Modern Copyright Framework for Online Intermediaries: my submission to the consultationModern Copyright Framework for Online Intermediaries: my submission to the consultation

June 8, 2021June 8, 2021 Barry SookmanBarry Sookman 0 Comments

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blocking orders

Blocking orders available in Canada rules Court of Appeal in GoldTV caseBlocking orders available in Canada rules Court of Appeal in GoldTV case

May 27, 2021May 27, 2021 Barry SookmanBarry Sookman 0 Comments

In a landmark decision released by the Federal Court of Appeal in Teksavvy Solutions Inc. v. Bell Media Inc. 2021 FCA 100, the Court affirmed the blocking order made against the pirate streaming service GoldTV and confirmed that blocking orders are available in Canada to combat illicit online services that target the Canadian market with infringing copyright content. I previously summarized the decision of the motion court judge Patrick Gleeson whose decision was at issue in the appeal.

The decision of the Court of Appeal dealt with three broad issues: whether the Federal Court had the power to grant a blocking order; if so, the relevance of freedom of expression; and whether the order was just and equitable.…

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automated decision making

Using privacy laws to regulate automated decision makingUsing privacy laws to regulate automated decision making

April 30, 2021April 30, 2021 Barry Sookman Charles Morgan Adam GoldenbergBarry Sookman Charles Morgan Adam Goldenberg 0 Comments

Making decisions about individuals using computers and computer algorithms is now commonplace. There are now also increasing proposals to use privacy laws to regulate automated decision making. One of the first explicit attempts to regulate automated decision-making using privacy laws is the European Union General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).  More recently (and locally), both the Consumer Privacy Protection Act (CPPA), Canada’s proposed controversial new privacy law, and Bill 64, Quebec’s proposed privacy amendments, would enact new transparency and explainability obligations for automated decision making.…

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