Getty v Stability AI: Exclusive Copyright Licences and Clickwrap Signatures

exclusive licenses, electronic signatures

In the prior blog posts, Copyright Infringement and AI: Insights from Getty v StabiliyAI Trademark Infringement and AI: the Getty and Cohere cases, I summarized the landmark decision in Getty Images (US) Inc v Stability AI Limited [2025] EWHC 2863 (Ch), as it related to Stability AI’s liability for secondary copyright infringement and trademark infringement. But, the U.K. court’s decision in Getty also dealt with two other important issues related to Getty’s status to sue for copyright infringement. The first was that Getty’s licences that purposed to be exclusive under New York law did not give Getty the status to sue under the UK copyright law, the CDPA.…

Barry Sookman Technology Law tLK

Technology Law Updates from the CAN-TECH Conference

I was pleased to speak on October 24 at the Canadian Technology Law Association (CAN-TECH) Fall Conference in Toronto. CAN-TECH is the national association representing Canadian technology lawyers. I participated in a panel alongside Catherine Lovrics (Marks & Clerk LLP) and Jenna Wilson (Wilson Lue LLP), moderated by Lisa Wallace (WeirFoulds LLP).

My talk was a follow up and update to my annual Toronto Computers Lawyers Group “Year in Review” of technology law talk. My talk covered a wide range of topics with a special focus on artificial intelligence, technology and online contracting, privacy and copyright.…

Sookman it year in review talk presentation

Technology Law: A Comprehensive Annual Review 2024-2025

Computer and IT Law: The Year in Review 2024–2025 – Toronto Computer Lawyers Group Presentation

On June 19, 2025, I had the pleasure of presenting my annual “Computer and IT Law: The Year in Review” to the Toronto Computer Lawyers Group. This year’s talk covered legal developments across a wide range of topics including artificial intelligence, copyright, social media, privacy, cybersecurity, blockchain, online contracting and eCommerce.

As in past years, I prepared a comprehensive written paper to accompany the presentation.…

Blacklock's Reporter

Understanding subscription licenses, fair dealing and legal protection for TPMs in Canada: A critical commentary of the Blacklock’s Reporter Parks Canada decision

The Federal Court issued another troubling copyright decision involving Blacklock’s Reporter (BR) in the recent case, 1395804 Ontario Ltd, operating as Blacklock’s Reporter v AG Canada, 2024 FC 829. In reasons that are very difficult to follow and untangle, Justice Roy of the Federal Court held that Parks Canada did not infringe copyright or breach the Copyright Act’s legal protection of technological protection measures by circulating copies of articles and passwords to locked articles published by BR.

The Blacklock’s Reporter decision is riddled with mistakes.…

Year(s) in review – IT, Internet, AI, IP, Privacy & Blockchain

I had the pleasure of presenting the annual Year in Review of IT/Internet law to the Toronto Computer Lawyers Group on June 6, 2024. It was great to see a packed-in person event of IT lawyers after COVID. This year the presentation featured over 75 cases from many countries including Canada, the U.S., U.K., China, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Australia

My presentation can be accessed at this link. The video recording of the presentation is accessible below. I blogged about some of the cases discussed and you can read all about them via links in the presentation.

…

Exclusion Clauses in contracts

Construction of exclusion clauses under Sale of Goods laws: Earthco v Pine Valley

The Supreme Court of Canada released an important decision in Earthco Soil Mixtures Inc. v. Pine Valley Enterprises Inc., 2024 SCC 20 on the construction of exclusion clauses in contracts. Specifically, the appeal concerned a contracting party’s ability to contract out of the statutorily implied condition of sale by description under the Sale of Goods Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. S.1 (“SGA”). The Court re-affirmed that under its leading precedents on the construction of contracts (Sattva) and exclusion clauses (Tercon) the seller had validly excluded the implied condition by an express agreement, even though the wording of the exclusion did not refer to the implied condition or that it was being excluded.…

IT agreements

A Multimillion-dollar Dispute Over a Failed Research Agreement: SunSource v University of Windsor

Every now and then a case provides a teaching moment. The recent case, Sunsource v. University of Windsor, 2022 ONSC 6047, is such a case. Sunsource involved a dispute over a failed R&D agreement between Sunsource and University of Windsor. It provides a good refresher on important contract issues including the interpretation of agreements, contractual integration clauses, principles governing recovery of damages including remoteness principles, and disclaimer or exclusions of liability clauses including consequential damages disclaimers.

Backround

Sunsource brought a lawsuit against the University of Windsor, seeking damages of $40 million for alleged breaches of contract, misrepresentation, and intentional unlawful interference with economic relations.…

information technology lawyer

Why you need a good information technology lawyer for complex IT agreements: CIS v IBM

If you are an information technology lawyer you will want to read the recent decision from the U.K., CIS General Insurance Ltd v IBM United Kingdom Ltd [2021] EWHC 347 (TCC) (19 February 2021). The case resulted from what the court described as “a disastrous IT project” for a build and run insurance system project in which IBM wrongfully terminated the contract to avoid mounting losses. The case is replete with abject lessons for information technology lawyers who draft and negotiate or litigate complex IT agreements.…

Top legal developments in e-commerce, privacy and intellectual property

Despite COVID-19, 2020 was an eventful year, chock full of impactful legal developments in e-commerce, technology, privacy, anti-spam, and intellectual property law. Here is a summary of my picks for the top legal developments.

e-commerce

Standard form online agreements and unconscionability

Online and in-App agreements are typically presented to users as “standard form”, “take it or leave it”, “boiler plate” forms. Most common are some variation of a “click-wrap”, “sign-in wrap”, or “browsewrap” agreement. They are used pervasively on websites and on Apps, among other locations.…

Developments in computer, Internet and e-commerce law: the year in review (2017-2018)

I gave my annual presentation today to the Toronto computer Lawyers’ Group on “The year in review in Computer, Internet and E-Commerce Law”. It covers the period from June 2017 to June 2018. The developments include cases from Canada, the U.S. the U.K., Singapore, Australia, and other countries.

The developments are organized into the broad topics of:

Jurisdiction/Online Remedies/Conflicts of Laws
Hyperlinks/Search Results/Computer Generated Content
e-Commerce & Online Agreements
Technology Contracting
Privacy
Copyright
CASL.

The cases referred to are listed below.…

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