Author: Barry Sookman

Computer and Internet Weekly Updates for 2023-03-25Computer and Internet Weekly Updates for 2023-03-25



Cloud computing and PST

Cloud computing services not subject to PST says BC court: Hootsuite Inc. v British Columbia (Finance)Cloud computing services not subject to PST says BC court: Hootsuite Inc. v British Columbia (Finance)



Are cloud computing services subject to provincial sales tax? According to a recent decision of the BC Supreme Court in Hootsuite Inc. v British Columbia (Finance), 2023 BCSC 358 the cloud computing services AWS Support, EC2 and S3, and AWS direct connect are not subject to provincial sales tax under the  Provincial Sales Tax Act, S.B.C. 2012, c. 35 [PSTA]. In short, these services are not taxable as, depending on the service, they are not the purchase of software programs, they constitute the purchase of on-demand infrastructure (IaaS), the service does not contain a software program, the software program is not used in BC, the service is not used in BC, or the service is otherwise exempt under incidental exemptions in the PSTA.

Computer and Internet Weekly Updates for 2023-03-18Computer and Internet Weekly Updates for 2023-03-18



Computer and Internet Weekly Updates for 2023-03-11Computer and Internet Weekly Updates for 2023-03-11



Trade secret lawyer

Trade secrets: a webinar for NGen and other Canadian superclustersTrade secrets: a webinar for NGen and other Canadian superclusters



I had the pleasure earlier today to participate in a webinar on the protection of trade secrets. The webinar was provided to some of Canada’s leading superclusters and their partners such as NGen, Protein Industries Canada, Canada’s Ocean Supercluster, and the Digital Technology Supercluster.

The slides from my talk can be accessed at the link below.…

Computer and Internet Weekly Updates for 2023-03-04Computer and Internet Weekly Updates for 2023-03-04



Computer and Internet Weekly Updates for 2023-02-25Computer and Internet Weekly Updates for 2023-02-25



Bitcoin developer fiduciary duty

Fiduciary duties of Bitcoin Developers: Tulip Trading v Bitcoin AssociationFiduciary duties of Bitcoin Developers: Tulip Trading v Bitcoin Association



Do the developers of Bitcoin code owe fiduciary duties to an owner of that cryptocurrency to help the owner retrieve lost or inaccessible bitcoin after the owner’s private key has been hacked? They might ruled the U.K. Court of Appeal in Tulip Trading Limited v Bitcoin Association For BSV & Ors [2023] EWCA Civ 83 (03 February 2023), a decision that overturned a lower court judge who ruled there was no basis to obtain such relief.

While the decision of the Court of Appeal provides Tulip, the owner who allegedly lost $4 billion in bitcoin, with a potential remedy, what is surprising is that Tulip relied principally on direct causes of action against the developers, being fiduciary duty and a duty of care in tort.…

Computer and Internet Weekly Updates for 2023-02-18Computer and Internet Weekly Updates for 2023-02-18



Bitcoin developer fiduciary duty

Bitcoin file format not protected by copyright: Wright v BTC CoreBitcoin file format not protected by copyright: Wright v BTC Core



Technologies associated with blockchains have raised many novel issues of law. One of the issues is whether copyright is capable of subsisting in file formats used in the Bitcoin System. This issue was raised in the recent U.K. case, Wright & Ors v BTC Core & Ors [2023] EWHC 222 (Ch) (07 February 2023). In what can only be described as a technical question of copyright law, Justice Mellor concluded that copyright did not exist in the file format because the fixation requirement for copyright subsistence was not met.…