Amin Hosseini is an IPilogue Writer and an LLM Candidate at Osgoode Hall Law School.

On September 22, 2021, and its independent fact-checkers for defamation. In the , Stossel claimed that he uploaded two short video reports in which he interviewed experts about climate change, yet ĚýMeta (“Facebook”) publicly announced that Stossel’s reporting had failed the fact-checking process.ĚýĚý

In the first video, "Government Fueled Fires," Stossel stated that poor policies were the major cause of this year's fires and highlighted the importance of the role of climate change in the annual forest fires in California. Facebook examined the forest fire footage and marked it with a "missing context" label using its fact-checking tools.

ĚýThe second video, “Are We Doomed?,” questioned claims by “environmental alarmists” and elicited a similar response by Facebook’s fact-checking program — it was classified as "partly false information."

Stossel argued that the labels caused irreversible damage to his reputation, decreased the viewership of his content, and led to the loss of revenue. Regarding the first video, he claimed that Facebook attributed it to a statement that he did not produce; while for the second video, he stated that Facebook damaged his reputation by claiming he made false statements.

In response, Meta filed a motion for dismissal under and requested that the case be dismissed under (“SLAPP”). Briefly stated, SLAPP lawsuitsĚý seek to suppress and stifle critics to force them to cease voicing their opposition. Therefore, to safeguard freedom of speech, some jurisdictions have enacted anti-SLAPP laws.

The Court Ěýexplained that the First Amendment protects expressions of subjective opinion and “not false statements or implied assertions of objective fact.” According to the judge, "[s]imply because the process by which content is assessed and a label applied is called a fact-check does not mean that the assessment itself is an actionable statement of objective fact.” In other words, the Court alluded that only reflects a subjective assessment of the "accuracy and reliability" of the claims and is not a statement of objective fact. Ěý Accordingly then, the Court dismissed Stossel's lawsuit.

It is noteworthy that the spread of disinformation is pernicious. One salient example was the , where disinformation led to noncompliance with public health measures, such as masking, and high levels of vaccine reluctance.

To combat “fake news,” governments must carefully regulate social media content. For instance, based on a , if social media businesses operating in Germany do not remove unlawful, racist, or defamatory posts within 24 hours, they risk hefty fines. Ontario addressed this issue by passing the in 2015.

Since the definition of fake news and disinformation is so broad, however, overly strict laws may and imposing limits on access to justice. Therefore, legislation must strike a balance between upholding critics' freedom of speech with others' rights to protect their reputations against false claims.

Further Reading

To balance the Constitutional rights of the parties, access to justice and freedom of speech, a Minnesota Court outlined a method for determining if the SLAPP law should be employed. You may read .

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Introduction

Every year, the (IPIC) hosts a national conference, welcoming IP lawyers from all over Canada to network and to learn from leaders in the field. This year, the leadership at IPIC worked hard to make sure that the annual conference was just as meaningful and successful as other years, despite the challenges they faced with the ongoing pandemic. I was fortunate enough to attend “” and I am excited to share some of the highlights of my experience.

Address by IPIC President, Stephanie Chong

The event began with an address from IPIC’s new President, , who emphasized that both COVID-19 and the social movements emerging internationally will have a major impact on the implementation of IPIC’s new three-year . Ms. Chong shared that IPIC is committed to working on tangible initiatives to increase equity, diversity and inclusion within the organization and in the IP profession at large.

Highlights

One of the highlights for me was the “Fireside Chat” with . He fielded questions regarding the impact of COVID-19 on the court system, whether courts should adopt an approach of technological neutrality or technological novelty, and whether Canada should have specialist judges for IP-related matters. He tackled these complex issues in stride and I really enjoyed listening to his perspective.

Another presentation that I particularly enjoyed was the Indigenous IP session. Professor of the University of Alberta shared a number of useful sources to learn more about Indigenous perspectives on IP. These include the and the project at Simon Fraser University. She also pointed to between Tsilhqot’in Nation and University of British Columbia, which, among other things, provides that Tsilhqot’in Nation will own any data that comes out of research done in collaboration with the University.

Following Professor Bell, reminded us that there is a lot of low-hanging fruit in IP law that could be fairly easily addressed by looking at other jurisdictions, similar to ours, which have regarding Indigenous rights in relation to IP.

CIPO

(CIPO) had a strong presence throughout the conference, providing practice updates for CIPO in general, but also for the patent and trademark branches, respectively. The CEO of CIPO, , emphasized that COVID-19 actually pushed the office to take measures that it had already been moving towards, such as the further digitalization of correspondence.

CIPO’s goal is to provide entirely digital correspondence in the future, and during this time, it has made strides towards that objective. Georgaras also pointed out that the Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) and CIPO was a great resource during this time, which of course made me appreciate the , aptly named Isaac Pewton, for its value as well.

Other presentations during the conference covered such topics as the top IP cases of 2020, file wrapper estoppel, updates to section 56 of the Patent Act, site blocking, patentable subject matter of computer implemented inventions and copyright issues surrounding machine-generated works.

There were too many fascinating topics discussed this year to cover in one short blog, so the surest way not to miss out on stimulating discussions with leaders in IP law is to register for next year’s conference. IPIC plans to hold its next annual conference in Newfoundland next October.

Acknowledgment

I want to thank IPIC for allowing me to attend the conference on behalf of the IPilogue. It was a wonderful experience, and I highly recommend that students who are able to become members of IPIC do so. There is a , and financial aid available for those who qualify. I have found it to be a welcoming and supportive community, and I hope that all who are interested in practicing IP law get a chance to experience it for themselves!

Written by Rachel Marcus. Rachel is a third year student at Osgoode Hall Law School and is currently enrolled in Professors D’Agostino and Vaver 2020/2021 IP & Technology Law Intensive Program at Osgoode Hall Law School. Rachel has been a member of IPIC since 2018 and is currently a part of the IPIC Mentorship Program.

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Canada Emergency Response Benefit

With events and in-person performances cancelled, musicians have redirected their efforts to share their music online. Various musicians have moved forward in accepting paid live streaming performance spots. However, questions arose as to whether accepting these paid events might disqualify them from the Canada Emergency Response Benefit.

In April, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau expanded the reach of CERB to include support for people who are still working but earning $1,000 or less per month. However, much of a musician’s income is driven by unexpected opportunities and royalty cheques and it can be challenging to predict average monthly earnings regardless of economic circumstances. A statement provided by the Minister of Canadian Heritage, the Honourable Steven Guilbeault, offered some clarity regarding royalties for artistic works, noting that there is no cap on royalty payments for works produced by artists before March 1, 2020. However, copyright protected works produced after that period would apply to the CERB guidelines.

COVID-19 Emergency Support Fund for Cultural, Heritage and Sport Organizations

On April 17, the Government of Canada’s temporary relief measures to support the culture, heritage and sport sectors as they manage the impacts of COVID-19. A total of up to $500 million has been set aside to protect jobs and support business continuity for organisations that have been negatively impacted. This emergency support fund is designed to complement the other federal government measures in response to COVID-19, including the CERB, the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy, the Business Credit Availability Program, and the Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance program.

In his initial announcement, Minister Guilbeault noted a number of entertainment industries that may be able to benefit, including non-profits, national sports organizations, television production houses, publishers, music associations, and media organizations. Guilbeault further stated that Heritage Canada intends to consult with the entertainment and sports industries, and that his department is already working with the Canada Council for the Arts, which has conducted its own consultations.

As of May 8, it was announced that partner organizations will be contacted so that funds from this emergency support fund can begin to flow to cultural and sport organizations. As per the Government of Canada’s , the distribution of funding will include:

• Up to $326.8 million to be administered by Canadian Heritage and divided among select departmental programs and Portfolio agencies as well as key delivery organizations. Specifically:
  • $198.3 million will be provided to the beneficiaries of arts and culture funding via existing programs as well as other organizations with demonstrated needs;
  • $72 million will be provided to the sport sector; and
  • $53 million will be provided to the heritage sector via the emergency component of the Museums Assistance Program.
• $55 million to be distributed by the Canada Council for the Arts.
• $3.5 million will be provided for COVID-related projects under the Digital Citizen Initiative.
• $115.8 million to support the Canadian audiovisual sector, to be distributed by the Canada Media Fund ($88.8 million) and Telefilm Canada ($27 million).

The use of the remaining funds will be assessed based on needs.

Written by Alessia Monastero, IPilogue editor and articling student at Deeth Williams Wall LLP.

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A released last month stated that AI and big data are a key part of the disease response in China, where they were used for contact tracing and management of priority populations. Two widely used mobile apps, AliPay and WeChat, assisted Chinese Government to track COVID-19 patients through their . The officials also reported that they have tracked offline and online . The authorities also used social platforms and apps to monitor movement to employ a Color codes on mobile phones designated a person’s health status and allowed authorities to check individuals at train stations and checkpoints to know who to let through. The government also used and in drones and helmets to identify and monitor the infected individuals.

Though the Chinese government did an excellent job controlling the COVID-19 outbreak, some privacy experts worry that many important privacy issues were brushed under the carpet during these extraordinary times. For example, individuals might disregard the potential issues regarding when faced with a health crisis. Another important privacy concern is who will have access to this data. If the facial recognition data were sold to third parties, it would make it possible for to identify individuals on security cameras. Global and national emergencies, like pandemics, can require transparency and access to more data­ to control the situation —thus compromising privacy. Consequently, it is important to create effective and proactive laws to deal with novel challenges pertaining to uses of personal data, particularly biometric data, gathered by AI prior to those emergencies.

Moreover, Canadian privacy laws include several provisions that authorize the collection, use and disclosure of personal information in the context of a public health crisis or “”. and extends the powers granted to federal and provincial governments that might be relevant in the time of a public health situation. For instance, although PIPEDA generally requires of the individual for the collection, use or disclosure of their personal information, there are certain circumstances where personal information can be used without the consent of the individual. The consent may if the collection is clearly in the interests of the individual but consent cannot be obtained in a timely way; if the collection and use is for the purpose of making a disclosure required by law; or if the disclosure is requested by a government institution under a lawful authority to obtain the information and the disclosure is for the purpose of enforcing or administering any of federal or provincial law. While Canadian privacy and data legislation provides stronger protections for Canadians, only time will tell whether they may still permit privacy violations similar to those that occurred in China.  

Written by Elif Babaoglu, Contributing IPilogue Editor and JD Candidate at Osgoode Hall Law School. Elif is also the co-director of events at the Osgoode Privacy Law Society.

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