Category Archives: Consumer Protection

November 5, 2012

Privacy: Federal Privacy Commissioner issues new privacy guidance for videogame play

In an interesting announcement made earlier today, Canada’s Federal Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart issued new privacy guidance for videogames.  In making the announcement, the Privacy Commmissioner said: “Today, while they may be playing in the basement, they’re very likely doing so with others, whether they’re … Read the rest of this entry »

November 4, 2012

Quebec Federation of Real Estate Boards files Competition Bureau misleading advertising complaint against for-sale-by-owner firm DuProprio

In an interesting story reported by the Montreal Gazette, the Quebec Federation of Real Estate Boards (“QFREB”) has filed a misleading advertising complaint with the Competition Bureau against the sale-by-owner real estate firm DuProprio (see also REM’s article and real estate industry commentary: QFREB files complaint against DuProprio with the Competition … Read the rest of this entry »

October 30, 2012

Interim Commissioner of Competition Speech Highlights Key Cases, Criminal Enforcement, Trade Association Compliance & Bureau Immunity and Leniency Programs

In a speech earlier today, the new Interim Commissioner of Competition, John Pecman, in his first published remarks as Commissioner, discussed compliance, current Bureau enforcement policies and ongoing cases. Some of the noteworthy aspects of the Interim Commissioner’s remarks include highlighting the Bureau’s continued enforcement … Read the rest of this entry »

October 27, 2012

Oakville Company Found Guilty of 21 Ontario Consumer Protection Act Charges, Fined $250,000, 6 Month Jail Term

Conventional thinking has been that the most serious consumer protection enforcement tends to be under federal law (e.g., the Competition Act or Criminal Code).  That reasoning changed somewhat last week with an Oakville company being found guilty by a Newmarket Ontario court of violating the … Read the rest of this entry »

October 23, 2012

Advertising & Privacy: The Future is Here: U.S. Federal Trade Commission Publishes Facial Recognition Technologies Report

“In the 2002 film Minority Report, Steven Spielberg imagined a world in which companies use biometric technology to identify us and serve us targeted ads.  Ten years later, that vision is coming closer to reality.  Having overcome the high costs and poor accuracy that once … Read the rest of this entry »

October 18, 2012

Key Tips to Successfully Running Contests (Sweepstakes) in Canada

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 … Read the rest of this entry »

October 16, 2012

Key Canadian Competition Law & Advertising Compliance Rules

I have been doing quite a bit of compliance work lately, and have been seeing a wide range of compliance by companies and associations, ranging from no compliance or guidelines whatsoever to full competition law compliance programs that follow the Competition Bureau’s recommended elements in … Read the rest of this entry »

October 11, 2012

CRTC Announces Public Consultations on New Mandatory Wireless Code

In the second of two recent major announcements (the first being yesterday’s release of the CRTC’s inaugural guidelines under Canada’s impending anti-spam legislation – see: here), Canada’s telecom regulator today announced public consultations on a new mandatory wireless code.  The thrust of the new consultations appears … Read the rest of this entry »