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Archive for July, 2016

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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One of our practice areas is Canadian advertising and marketing law. In this respect, we have worked on a number of “destination marketing” promotions over the past few years, including for hotel, resort and Canadian and international government clients. “Destination marketing” involves promoting travel to a hotel, resort, province/territory or country.

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Featured Update
Practical Law Canada Competition

July 18, 2016

This Featured Update discusses the recent Online Reviews and Endorsements Guidelines issued by the International Consumer Protection and Enforcement Network (ICPEN). It includes a summary of key principles and guidelines for review administrators, traders and marketing professionals, and digital influencers. It also highlights how these new Guidelines reflect the Canadian Competition Bureau’s approach to online reviews and endorsements, as well as other major consumer protection agencies.

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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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Promotional contests in Canada are largely governed by the federal Competition Act, Criminal Code and contract law. Other laws can also apply depending on the type of contest, including privacy, anti-spam and intellectual property law.

In addition, one of the areas of law that has affected contests the most over the past several years is CASL – Canada’s federal anti-spam legislation. For more information about CASL, see: CASL (Canadian Anti-spam Law), CASL Compliance, CASL FAQs, CASL Compliance Errors and CASL Precedents and Checklists.

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July 16, 2016

Guest post by John Simpson

(Shift Law)

Online threats to commercial reputations are on the rise. These include “attack sites”, “gripe sites” (e.g., RipOff Report), cyber-libel via social media, domain name high-jacking, meta tag high-jacking and defamatory email campaigns. Online brand and reputation attacks are easy and inexpensive to wage and they can be devastatingly effective.

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Guest post by Nick Hollinger
tbk Creative

July 15, 2016

It’s common knowledge that any organization can – and should – set up free social media accounts to start organically reaching individuals without spending a dime. So, that’s all businesses can do with social media, right?  Wrong.

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Guest post by John Bodrug & Anita Banicevic
Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP

July 1, 2016

On June 28, 2016, Canada’s Competition Bureau announced that it had cleared Superior Plus Corporation’s acquisition of Canexus Corporation despite the Bureau’s conclusion that the transaction “would likely result in a substantial lessening of competition for the supply of various industrial chemical products in Canada”. The Bureau attributed its decision to the unique availability of the efficiencies defence under section 96 of the Competition Act (which provides that a merger cannot be prohibited when the expected efficiency gains outweigh the likely anti-competitive effects of the transaction). The day before the Bureau’s announcement, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that it is challenging the transaction because it would “significantly reduce competition in the North American market for sodium chlorate”. Despite the disparate outcomes, these announcements and actions highlight not only the availability of the efficiencies defence in Canada, but also the increased level of coordination and cooperation between the Bureau and its U.S. antitrust counterparts in cross-border mergers.

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    buy-contest-form Templates/precedents and checklists to run promotional contests in Canada

    buy-contest-form Templates/precedents and checklists to comply with Canadian anti-spam law (CASL)

    WELCOME TO CANADIAN COMPETITION LAW! - OUR COMPETITION BLOG

    We are a Toronto based competition, advertising and regulatory law firm.

    We offer business, association, government and other clients in Toronto, Canada and internationally efficient and strategic advice in relation to Canadian competition, advertising, regulatory and new media laws. We also offer compliance, education and policy services.

    Our experience includes more than 20 years advising companies, trade and professional associations, governments and other clients in relation to competition, advertising and marketing, promotional contest, cartel, abuse of dominance, competition compliance, refusal to deal and pricing and distribution law matters.

    Our representative work includes filing and defending against Competition Bureau complaints, legal opinions and advice, competition, CASL and advertising compliance programs and strategy in competition and regulatory law matters.

    We have also written and helped develop many competition and advertising law related industry resources including compliance programs, acting as subject matter experts for online and in-person industry compliance courses and Steve Szentesi as Lawyer Editor for Practical Law Canada Competition.

    For more about us, visit our website: here.