Chapter 6: FACILITATING BUSINESS
Update to page 184, Case In Point Box entitled “What Is An Unconscionable Bargain? Heller v Uber Technologies Inc.”:
On June 26, 2020, the Supreme Court of Canada dismissed Uber’s appeal. The SCC held that the arbitration provision, contained in a wholly one-sided contract of adhesion, was unconscionable and thus invalid. Accordingly, Mr. Heller’s proposed class action will now proceed in the Ontario courts (Uber Technologies Inc. v Heller, 2020 SCC 16).
CHAPTER 7: FORMS OF CARRYING ON BUSINESS
Update to pages 228-229, under the heading “Naming the Corporation,” with regard to NUANS searches:
Although a NUANS search is recommended in British Columbia, you are not required to submit a NUANS search as part of the filing requirements to incorporate a corporation in British Columbia (although it is required in the provinces of Alberta, Ontario, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island, and when incorporating a federal corporation). However, a NUANS search should nonetheless be undertaken as a relatively low-cost preventative measure against a possible subsequent legal challenge (for example, trademark infringement) to the business name you have selected.
CHAPTER 11: INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AND BUSINESS LAW IN THE DIGITAL AGE
Update to page 383, under the heading “Length of Protection” for Copyright: Note that copyright protection has been extended from 50 years after death of author to 70 years after death of author.
The Copyright Act was amended by the Budget Implementation Act, 2022, No. 1. Accordingly, effective December 30, 2022, a copyright will now be subsist (i.e., be in effect) for “the life of the author, the remainder of the calendar year in which the author dies, and a period of 70 years following the end of that calendar year.” The 70-year period also applies where there is joint authorship running from the death of the last surviving joint author. Works that were in the public domain as of December 30, 2022 continue to be “public domain” works, but the subsisting copyright protection period for any work that would have otherwise expired before the end of 2022 is now extended to December 31, 2042. The extension of the copyright period was enacted as part of Canada’s obligations under the 2020 North American free trade agreement (known as “CUSMA”).