Archive for November, 2009
November 29, 2009
Sweeping amendments were recently passed that will significantly amend the criminal conspiracy provisions of the federal Competition Act (the “Act”), which are considered one of the “cornerstones” of Canadian competition law. Effective March, 2010, Canada will have a dual-track criminal conspiracy regime with “per se” criminal offence for three forms of “hard core” criminal agreements (i.e., with no requirement to show any adverse market effects on a relevant market(s)) and a second civil reviewable matters provision under which other non-hard core agreements may be subject to review.
November 24, 2009
Steve Szentesi will be speaking at the upcoming Canadian Bar Association Business Law Subsection Lunch at the Sutton Place Hotel in Vancouver on November 25, 2009. The topic will be Canada’s New Competition Law and will include highlights of the recent Competition Act amendments including the new criminal conspiracy rules, new merger control rules, changes to the abuse of dominance provisions and criminal pricing provisions, increased penalties for false or misleading representations and new Investment Canada Act and national security test for foreign investment.
November 24, 2009
CANADIAN CONTEST RULES/PRECEDENTS
Do you need contest rules/precedents
for a Canadian contest?
We offer many types of Canadian contest/sweepstakes law precedents and forms (i.e., Canadian contest/sweepstakes law precedents to run common types of contests in Canada). These include precedents for random draw contests (i.e., where winners are chosen by random draw), skill contests (e.g., essay, photo or other types of contests where entrants submit content that is judged to enter the contest or for additional entries), trip contests and more. Also available are individual Canadian contest/sweepstakes precedents, including short rules (“mini-rules”), long rules, winner releases and a Canadian contest law checklist. For more information or to order, see: Canadian Contest Law Forms/Precedents. If you would like to discuss legal advice in relation to your contest or other promotion, contact us: Contact.
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On November 23, 2009 the Competition Bureau announced that Elkhorn Ranch & Resort Ltd., a Manitoba-based company that sells vacation property time shares, has agreed to pay CDN $170,000 for operating promotional contests in contravention of the promotional contest provisions of the Competition Act.
November 22, 2009
OVERVIEW
Significant changes have recently been made to the federal Competition Act (the “Act”) that impact competition law private actions under the Act. At the same time, there appears to be an increasing number of private and class actions currently being commenced in Canada. This trend may well continue as a result of some of the recent amendments, as well as several plaintiff favourable competition law class actions in British Columbia and Ontario.
November 22, 2009
Private parties have a limited right of “private access” under the Competition Act (the “Act”) to the Competition Tribunal (the “Tribunal”) to seek Tribunal orders for breach of certain reviewable matters provisions of the Act. Private access rights were introduced in 2002 to allow small and medium sized firms to challenge allegedly harmful conduct to their businesses under provisions which have not historically been enforcement priorities for the Competition Bureau (e.g., the refusal to deal provisions).
November 18, 2009
The Globe and Mail reported earlier today that Telus Communications has commenced an action against Rogers Communications in British Columbia for alleged misleading advertising in relation to its network.
November 17, 2009
The Competition Bureau has announced that a national phone card supplier has been required to pay refunds and a penalty of Cdn. $300,000. Ontario-based Phonetime Inc. will offer refunds to consumer that bought Bravo! and Bravo! Atlantic prepaid long-distance phone cards.
November 13, 2009
The Financial Post has reported that the British Columbia Court of Appeal has approved the DRAM memory class action. The Court of Appeal has reversed a lower court ruling certifying a class action against a group of five technology manufacturers accused of fixing their prices for computer memory chips.
Templates/precedents and checklists to run promotional contests in Canada
Templates/precedents and checklists to comply with Canadian anti-spam law (CASL)
