About
Welcome to my blog, where I write about various interesting legal issues in Canada.
David Lam
Lawyer
Ontario, Canada
I am a lawyer practicing business law, real estate law, intellectual property law (patents, trademarks, copyright, licensing), and litigation in the Greater Toronto Area.
For more information, visit https://www.davidlam.ca.
Author Archives: David Lam
Tourists and US gun ranges
It can be tempting to go to a gun range in the US and shoot some guns, especially fully automatic weapons such as machine guns which are prohibited in Canada. Gun ranges near Las Vegas cater especially to the tourist … Continue reading
Police can search smartphone without a warrant on arrest
Smartphones today hold our entire digital lives. Not only do they hold our intimate emails and text messages, but much more importantly our smartphones also contains apps such as Dropbox and OneDrive which are already logged in and allows access … Continue reading
Don’t sign a new cell phone contract until Dec 2, 2013
In a consumer-friendly move, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) released some new rules today governing new cell phone contracts. The new rules will apply to new cell phone contracts that start on December 2, 2013. In particular, the … Continue reading
Telus records all your texts
Yesterday, the Supreme Court in R. v. Telus, 2013 SCC 16 made an interesting ruling on what types of warrants are applicable to text messages under the Criminal Code. What’s interesting isn’t the ruling – as expected, the Court decided … Continue reading
Are emails at work confidential or privileged?
A reader wondered about communicating with her lawyer from work. In particular, she wondered if such communications are confidential or privileged. Generally, communications between a client and her lawyer are subject to solicitor-client privilege, and may not be revealed in … Continue reading
Posted in Business Law, Employment Law, Litigation
Tagged Business, Employer Rights, Worker Rights
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New fee to play recorded music at parties
Weddings are expensive. Thanks to a recent decision by the Copyright Board, it’s going to become a little bit more expensive starting this summer. The Copyright Board of Canada has recently allowed new tariffs to be collected for playing recorded … Continue reading
Colbert and Stewart: Copyright fair dealing
Have you ever wondered how Stephen Colbert or Jon Stewart can reproduce news clips without being sued for copyright infringement? Just because something is under copyright doesn’t mean it cannot be copied or used by someone other than the author. … Continue reading
Posted in Copyright Law, Telecom Law
Tagged Consumer Rights, Fair Dealing, Fair Use, IP, US Law
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The BBM trademark and Research in Motion
Finally some good news for Research in Motion this morning, as the Federal Court dismissed a lawsuit by BBM Canada challenging the use of the trade-mark “BBM” by Research in Motion Limited (RIM) in the promotion of its BlackBerry Messenger … Continue reading
Posted in Litigation, Trademark Law
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Robinson Sucroë and copyright infringement
For the last 16 years, Claude Robinson has been fighting television giant Cinar in Quebec court, alleging that Robinson Sucroë, an animated television series from Quebec, was plagiarized from Robinson Curiosité, an earlier work by Claude Robinson. In 2009, the … Continue reading
Posted in Copyright Law, Litigation
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