Upcoming SCC Case: Keatley Surveying Ltd. v. Teranet Inc.

There is an interesting case being heard at the Supreme Court of Canada next Friday (March 29), which has a good number of people in the legal community excited. Keatley Surveying Ltd. v. Teranet Inc. is a case on appeal from the Ontario courts to do with the issue of the copyright of land surveys.  Here is the summary of the proceedings to date, as it appears on the Supreme Court website:

The respondent manages the Province of Ontario’s electronic land registry system (the “ELRS”). Documents that were prepared by land surveyors such as drawings, maps, charts and plans (collectively “plans of survey”) are registered in the ELRS. The public can obtain on-line copies of registered plans of survey through the respondent for a fee prescribed by statute, no part of which constitutes fees or royalties paid to the land surveyors who prepared them. The appellant is the representative plaintiff in a certified class action brought on behalf of approximately 350 land surveyors whose plans of survey were scanned and copied into the respondent’s digital database and made available on-line. The appellant claims that the respondent is in breach of copyright by reaping substantial profits at the expense of surveyors. The Ontario Superior Court of Justice dismissed the appellant’s motion for summary judgment, granted the respondent’s motion for summary judgment and dismissed the class action. The court found that as a result of the legislative regime requiring registration or deposit of the plans of survey in the land registry office, ownership in the property of the plans of survey, including copyright, is transferred to the province. They are then “published by or under the direction or control of Her Majesty” pursuant to s. 12 of the Copyright Act. The Ontario Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal, holding that provincial Crown copyright is by virtue of s. 12 of Copyright Act, not the provincial legislation.

As section 12 of the Copyright Act is rarely judicially considered, particularly so at the Supreme Court level, interest in this case has been high. Several groups have successfully attained intervenor status for this case, including the Federation of Law Societies, CanLII, the Canadian Association of Law Libraries (CALL), and the Attorneys General of Canada and three provinces. For those of you with a keen interest in intellectual property and copyright, this is undoubtedly one to watch. (Which of course, you can do, as a webcast!)

Recently Published Ottawa Decisions

Find below recently published Ottawa decisions, available for free through CanLII.org.

Family Matters

Smith v. Reynolds (2019 ONSC 1508)
soccer — child — interim access — exchanges — daycare
Justice P. MacEachern

Sealey v. Hoyte (2019 ONSC 1537)
child — unsupervised access — motion — supervised — exchanges
Justice P. MacEachern

Laderoute v. Heffernan (2019 ONSC 914)
valuation — report — business — corporate finance — stage of the admissibility test
Justice D. Summers

Civil Matters

Pittuck v. Garwood/Feller Inc. (2019 ONSC 1521)
costs — indemnity — tow truck — offer to settle — lease
Justice R. Smith

Toronto-Dominion Bank v. 1633092 Ontario Ltd. (2019 ONSC 1473)
loan — funding — invoices — duty of care — project
Justice M. O’Bonsawin

1778133 Ontario Inc. v. Laurin Contracting Ltd. (2019 ONSC 1532)
security for costs — assets — non-party to the litigation — impecunious — pay costs
Justice R. Ryan Bell

Medical Council of Canada v. Elmansy (2019 ONSC 1622)
sealing — exam — medical graduates — residency programs — identity
Justice C. Hackland

Newly Received Materials from LSO CPD

Below are some of the most recent CPD materials added to the library collection. Each title links to the book record where you can view more details and the full table of contents. All materials are available in print at the library, or if you’re interested in only a couple of articles, feel free to email us a request for a scanned copy.

7th Annual Human Rights Summit (December 4, 2018) 

  • Assessment and discrimination in education, employment and professional licensing : testing the limits of accommodation / Cheryl Wiles Pooran and Faraz Kourangi  
  • A summary guide to cannabis in the workplace part one : recreational cannabis / Melissa Snider-Adler 
  • Preventing and addressing sexual harassment in your practice / Hena Singh, Sheryl Johnson Fact scenarios. 
  •  Unrepresented litigants : understanding your responsibilities / Wassim Garzouzi, Jo-Ann Seamon 

 Civil Appeals: The Year in Review (December 11, 2018) 

  • Employment law update : a discussion of selected employment law cases decided by the Ontario Court of Appeal in 2018 / Connie Reeve  
  • The Court of Appeal (finally) has its say on anti-SLAPP legislation / Andrew W. MacDonald  
  • Limitation periods update / Jeremy Opolsky  
  • Appellate tort law update for 2018 / Barbara Legate  

 Real Estate Refresher 2018 (December 12, 2018) 

  • Communication / Tannis A. Waugh  
  • Residential mortgage financing / Zahra Ziaie Moayyed  
  • Searching title in Ontario / Merredith MacLennan  
  • Understanding residential title insurance / Kevin Rogers, Merredith MacLennan 
  • Closings and closing documents / Ian Speers  

Estate Accounting 2019 (January 16, 2019) 

  • When can a trustee claim, and justify, a special fee? / Lisa S. Toner, David J. Byun  
  • Passing the breach : remedies and litigating breach of fiduciary duty claims in a passing of accounts / Arieh Bloom  
  • Pre-taking compensation in guardianships and estates : who, what, when and why / Pia Hundal  
  • The duty of a trustee-director to account for trust-owned corporations / Matthew Furrow 

Cool Tools: Tiny Scanner

This post was written by Dorota Turlejski from the CCLA Technology Committee.

Tiny Scanner

Cost: free (with option for upgrade for $4.99)

Features/ uses: Scanner “on the go”

Category: Document management, Collaboration, Document storage, Transaction Management

Where to find: search for “Tiny Scanner” in the Apple Store if you have an iPhone, and Google Play if you have an Android.

Apple icon:                            Android icon:

 

 

 

 

 

 

This app turns your Android or iPhone/iPad into a portable document scanner, meaning that you can travel and scan without having to bring a very heavy scanning machine along with you! This can be very useful because taking photos with your phone does not provide the clarity and resolution you may need.

The app is password-protected and it auto-adjusts the images scanned in (because there is no feeder to flatten paper out), in order for them to appear as if they came from an office-size scanner.

You can set the app to automatically upload the documents into your Google Drive or you can e-mail and fax documents straight from the app, wherever you are.

For example, you go see your client outside the office to have them sign an agreement.  You can provide your client a copy of the signed agreement as soon as it is executed.  You take the signed document, scan the pages and e-mail it straight from your phone/tablet to your client.  In the meantime, an electronic version is stored in your Drive so that you don’t have to ask your assistant to scan the documents in when you go back to the office.

The main value-added of the app is that it produces documents looking like scanned documents and not like images taken with a phone.  The app is indispensable for lawyers working from home or sole practitioners who spend a lot of time on the road and not much time in the office.

It is not efficient to use Tiny Scanner to scan very large volumes of paper.  A self-feeding scanner would be more appropriate.  For the majority of paperwork, up to 30 pages a document, Tiny Scanner is a great solution.

Ottawa Blog Roll: February 2019

Please find below links to blog posts or articles authored by the Ottawa legal community in February.

Bankruptcy & Insolvency Law

Government Student Loans and Bankruptcy in Canada
– Rob de Toni, Merovitz Potechin LLP

Condominium Law

Are Condominium Residents Entitled to Privacy on the Common Elements?
– Christy Allen, Davidson Condo Law

Restrictions on Condominium Bank Accounts? Here’s Our Take
– James Davidson, Davidson Condo Law

What Happens If You’ve Delayed In Bringing a Court Claim? Here’s a Case That You Should Know About
– Christy Allen, Davidson Condo Law

Refusing to Allow Modifications to Common Elements Can Amount to Oppression
– Jocelyn Duquette, Condo Adviser

Are Condo Owners Entitled to Access the Owners’ Email List?
– Rod Escayola, Condo Adviser

Court Orders Owner to Enter into a Section 98 Agreement
– Jocelyn Duquette, Condo Adviser

Disclosure Statements: Say it Right and Say it Clearly
– Graeme Macpherson, Condo Adviser

Constitutional Law

Limits to the Attorney General’s Discretion
– Delaney’s Law Firm

Construction Law

Ontario’s New Prompt Payment Regime
– Roxie Graystone, Merovitz Potechin LLP

Criminal Law

February 2019 Criminal Law Round-Up
– Anne Marie McElroy, McElroy Law

Contextualizing Privacy: The Supreme Court’s Decision In R V. Jarvis
– Anne Marie McElroy, McElroy Law

Remediation agreements and other recent developments in white collar crime
– Glen Jennings, Matthew Doak, & Reem Zaia, Gowling WLG

Employment & Labour Law

ONCA Upholds Termination for Just Cause of Fiduciary
– Sean Bawden, Labour Pains

Termination for “Cause” Provision Violates the ESA
– Sean Bawden, Labour Pains

OLRB Rules That When it Comes to Severance it’s Ontario-Based Operations Alone
– Sean Bawden, Labour Pains

Storing pornography on a work-issued laptop not “serious enough” to be cause for dismissal
– Paul Willetts, Vey Willetts LLP

Not Much to “Like”: Lessons from an Anti-Social Work Environment
– Paul Willetts, Vey Willetts LLP

Termination clause update: New developments concerning benefit continuation and just cause language
– Andrew Vey, Vey Willetts LLP

Ontario Announces Occupational Cancer Review
– Frank Van Dyke, Van Dyke Injury Law Blog

Federal government adopts “modern” labour standards
– André Poulin-Denis & Mark Josselyn, Gowling WLG

You Violated Employer Rules: Do You Still Need to Be Accommodated?
– Sean T. McGee, Nelligan O’Brien Payne

Changes to Labour Standards in Quebec – What Do You Need to Know?
– Lanise Hayes, Nelligan O’Brien Payne

Ontario’s Sex Education Curriculum: What Can the Law Do to Challenge a Government Policy Decision?
– Alayna Miller, Mann Lawyers

Matthews v Ocean Nutrition
– Nigel McKechnie, Mann Lawyers

Insurance Law

Travel Insurance: Are you covered?
– Najma Rashid, OTLA Blog

IP & Copyright Law

Canadian Trademark Changes – June 17, 2019
– Cynthia Mason, Momentum Law

Access Copyright v. York U – the Federal Court of Appeal Hearing is March 5 and 6, 2019
– Howard Knopf, Excess Copyright

“Reclaiming Fair Use” by Aufderheide & Jaszi – My Treat During Fair Use/Fair Dealing Week
– Howard Knopf, Excess Copyright

Piracy v. Privacy – The Federal Court Significantly Restores the Balance in Canadian Mass Copyright Litigation by Insisting on “Best Available Evidence”
– Howard Knopf, Excess Copyright

Access Copyright Post Secondary Tariffs – 2011-2013 & to 2014-2017 – Coming Soon to a Campus Near You?
– Howard Knopf, Excess Copyright

Blacklock’s, Spam, CRTC, and ATIP
– Howard Knopf, Excess Copyright

Benefits of industry group intervention in the Federal Court of Canada
– Marc Richard & Cole Meagher, Gowling WLG

Marketing Law

A New and Improved Advertiser Dispute Procedure by Ad Standards
– Mary G. Griffith, Maclaren Corlett

Practice Management

The price of collaboration
– Jordan Furlong, Law21

The reality of collaboration
– Jordan Furlong, Law21

The implications of crowdsourced justice
– Jordan Furlong, Law21

Law firms’ shopping mall problem
– Jordan Furlong, Law21

Security Law

Meng Extradition: What to Watch For
– Craig Forcese, National Security Law

Another Rule of Law Test in the Meng Extradition Matter
– Craig Forcese and Leah West, National Security Law

 

We include highlights of recent posts and articles from Ottawa-area blogs that are of substantive value to the legal community. Did we miss one? Let us know!

Recently Published Ottawa Decisions

Find below recently published Ottawa decisions, available for free through CanLII.org.

Family Matters

Abdulhadi v. Ahmad (2019 ONSC 1447)
equalization — parenting — behaviour — costs — offerc
Justice T. Engelking

Chaulk v. Chaulk (2019 ONSC 1424)
equalization — post-separation debts — net family properties — spouse — unequal division
Justice T. Engelking

Civil Matters

Whelan v. Royal Trust Corporation of Canada (2019 ONSC 1299)
motion — venue — passing of accounts — ex parte — beneficiaries
Justice C. MacLeod

Caron v. Omers Realty Corporation et al. (2019 ONSC 1374)
return to work — mild traumatic brain injury — kitchenette — anxiety — slip
Justice P. Roger

Westeinde (FNP) Inc. v. RE/MAX Core Realty Inc. (2019 ONSC 1394)
strike — leave to amend — motion — drafted — beautifully
Justice C. Aitken

Custom Home Interiors By Obvious Advantage Inc. v. Corriveau (2019 ONSC 1351)
costs — motion — partial indemnity — offer to settle — disbursements
Justice R. Ryan Bell

City of Ottawa v. Suncor Energy Inc. (2019 ONSC 1340)
documents — discovery planning — undertakings given — searchable — examinations for discovery
Justice S. Corthorn

6056628 Canada Inc. v. 2350894 Ontario Inc. (2019 ONSC 1329)
landlord — tenant — minutes of settlement — injunction — lease
Justice H. Williams

Brousseau c. La Cité collégiale et Régime de retraite des collèges d’arts appliqués et de technologie (2019 ONSC 1251)
collèges d arts appliqués — retraite des collèges d arts — collégiale — questions — technologie
Juge M. O’Bonsawin

Capital Solar Power Corporation v. The Ontario Power Authority (2019 ONSC 1137)
solar — applications — renewable energy — pricing — evidence date of submitted application
Justice G. Toscano Roccamo

Sheldon v. Reyna (2019 ONSC 1265)
non-pecuniary general damages — prejudgment interest — lawyers — fees — amount
Justice H. Williams

Hydro Ottawa Limited v. Ontario (Ministry of Labour) (2019 ONCJ 85)
signaller — crew — energized — wire — boom
Justice R. Wadden

Criminal Matters

R. v. Larocque-Laplante (2019 ONSC 1099)
friend — kicks — provocation — air of reality — brawl
Justice C. Aitken

R. vs. Hernandez (2019 ONSC 936)
healing sessions — studio owner — complainants — collusion — touching
Justice C. Hackland

Divisional Court Decisions from Ottawa Judges

ETFO et al. v. Her Majesty the Queen (2019 ONSC 1308)
curriculum — teachers — gender identity — students — elementary
Justics B. Warkentin, C. Hackland, and J. Thorburn

Simcoe Muskoka Child, Youth and Family Services v. L.V. (2019 ONSC 1208)
father — motions — email — pressuring the child — evidence
Justices D.L. Corbett, F. Myers, and L. Sheard

Divisional and Court of Appeal Decisions of Local Interest

Canadian Postmasters and Assistants Association v. Canada Post Corporation (2019 ONSC 1222)
arbitrator — bilingual bonus to part-time indeterminate — bonus to part-time indeterminate employees — payment of a bilingual bonus — collective agreement
Justices K. Swinton, G. Mulligan, and R. Raikes

Ma v. Ottawa (City) (2019 ONCA 142)
spy — posters — motion — unnamed — all-inclusive
Justices C.W. Hourigan, M. Benotto, and G. Huscroft

R. v. Katalayi-Kassende (2019 ONCA 137)
victim — offence — information that could identify — proceedings in respect — broadcast
Justices J. MacPherson, R. Sharpe, and M. Tulloch

R. v. MacKay (2019 ONCA 117)
cocaine — purpose of trafficking — possession — inadmissible anecdotal information — reversed the onus of proof
Justices K. Feldman, D. Paciocco, and B. Zarnett

R. v. Land (2019 ONCA 39)
sword — provocation — air of reality — defence — power of self-control
Justices S. Pepall, D. Paciocco, and A. Harvison Young

Cool Tools: OneNote

This post was written by Carmen Baru from the CCLA Technology Committee.

To describe OneNote as a note-taking app is like describing chocolate as a food preparation of cocoa seeds: it is that, but it is so much more. Part of the MS Office suite, OneNote is used to gather information, add comments, organize them, and map past and future steps. At its best, OneNote works like a thought-management tool.


Collecting Information

A OneNote page is a blank canvas with no borders and no pre-set grid. The user clicks anywhere on the page and starts typing, hand-writing, drawing, pasting pictures, or inserting files. Text copied from the internet indicates its source (unless the option is turned off). A file inserted as an attachment can be modified, and the modifications can be saved.


Inserting Audio / Video Recordings

For notes based on an audible event such as a lecture or a discussion, OneNote can record the audio and link it to the typed notes. The user can then listen to the audio corresponding to a certain note entry.

To insert audio/video recordings: in the command ribbon, go to Insert > Recording > Recording audio.

To play back the audio recording linked to a certain note entry: click on the entry, then click the “Play” symbol (a triangle in a circle) that will appear to the left of that entry.


Organizing Information

OneNote reproduces the organizational concept of a binder, with each notebook containing sections or groups of sections, and each section containing pages or subpages. To create a New Section Group, right-click on the empty space next to the section tabs. To create a page, click “+Add Page”. To create a subpage, create it as if it were a page, then click the page tab and drag it to the right.

A OneNote can tag entries (“Home” tab > “Tags”). There are many pre-set tags, and more can be created. For example, an entry indicating a weakness in the file could be highlighted and marked with a suggestive icon:


Revisiting the Notes

OneNote entries are marked with a timestamp and the name of the author. The information can be accessed by right-clicking the entry: the timestamp is at the bottom of the menu that appears after right-clicking the entry.

The feature is useful in collaborative settings, when multiple users address the same material. It is also useful as a reminder of the date, time, and duration of the phone call or meeting corresponding to the notes.

OneNote also helps identifying information with various search functions. It can search:

  • text on the page (CTRL + F) or in one or more notebooks (CTRL + E);
  • text in an image, provided that the OCR tool has been applied. To use the OCR tool, right-click on the image, then click “Make text in image searchable.”
  • text in audio or video recordings. To use this function, the user must first turn on “Audio Search”: File > Options > Audio & Video > Audio Search: tick the checkbox to Enable searching audio and video recordings for words


To Wrap It Up

OneNote can seem daunting, with too many options and an unregulated, anxiety-inducing blank page. But OneNote is a feature-rich tool worth exploring, especially since many of us already have it on our computers, as part of the MS Office suite or as a Windows app. And I believe that, for many, it will be very much like chocolate: once you take the first piece, you will come back for seconds.