How Agentic Prior Art Searches Have Changed Patent Practice
By Julius Melnitzer | April 1, 2026 What stands out about agentic technology is the extent to which it has allowed penetration of a system that has so frequently seemed impenetrable. — David Hughes It’s no surprise, perhaps, that the advent of AI-driven agentic prior art searches marks a turning point in patent law practice. How, […]
Australia’s Plant Breeders Protection Regime: Promoting Innovation
“Breeders who make decisions without the benefit of patent attorneys’ advice risk not having the strongest protection for their rights and risk losing competitive advantages.” — Dr James-Robert Cram Plant breeding sits at the intersection of science, agriculture, and global trade – an intersection where intellectual property settings can either enable innovation or quietly undermine it […]
New Brunswick assault charge involves accused offering police ‘a present’
By Marcel Strigberger | March 24, 2026 Penalty: Jeremy Robert Weldon, 75 hours of community service for farting. I suppose some elaboration is in order. This is part of the sentence imposed by a provincial court judge in Moncton, N.B. on the gentleman who decided to lead the Mounties on a bit of a chase after driving […]
I am Perfect. Why Aren’t You?
Photo by Furkan Salihoğlu at Pexels By Murray Gottheil | March 22, 2025 Paul is a junior lawyer. His supervising lawyer expects every document that Paul creates to be perfect. To ensure this, the supervisor reviews and often revises all of Paul’s draft documents, no matter how routine they may be. Paul resents the extra time […]
Pet project: What to do about furry friends in family court
By Marcel Strigberger | March 17, 2026 Pets. Are the courts in a divorce action where both parties seek custody to treat them like children or property? The law in this area is all over the zoo. An Alberta judge, Douglas Mah, recently held in a case dealing with four cats that pets are to be treated […]
Double Patenting: A multi-jurisdictional minefield | Part III: Canada
“Canada has a rather strict system compared to other jurisdictions […], Nonetheless, it is still quite navigable in practice with the guidance of an experienced practitioner.” – Herman Cheung By Julius Melnitzer | March 16, 2026 Canada’s double patenting (DP) regime, which recognizes both “same invention” DP and “obviousness-type double patenting” (OTDP), but has no provision […]
Personality Rights Protection: Canada
“Except for Quebec, a civil law jurisdiction, Canada has very few statutory provisions covering personality rights specifically.” — Daniel Anthony Like New Zealand, Canada’s federal government and common law provinces do not recognize the general, US style “right of publicity” that protects personality rights—the right to control one’s name, image, likeness—as a property right. “Except for Quebec, […]
BARE BONES BRIEFS: A classic case of hubris: lawyers protecting misbehaving lawyers | Regulator says lawyers naughtier than accountants | Environmentalists: at least lawyers don’t make bombs or help sell cigars | Should AI-generated docs attract privilege? | DLA Piper appoints Regional Managing Partners
RECORD FINE FOR AI MISUSE IS NO DETERRENT TO LAWYERS In what is said to be the highest fine imposed so far in Canada on lawyers who misuse AI, the Alberta Court of Appeal has imposed personal costs of $17,500 + GST on an Alberta lawyer who filed a factum drafted by a contractor that […]
Personality Rights Protection: New Zealand
“AI increases the risk of misuse of personal information, both in terms of the information that businesses are feeding into, and receiving from, AI platforms.” — Thomas Huthwaite By Julius Melnitzer | March 5, 2026 With the advent of artificially-generated images and viral content, the growing ubiquity of deepfakes and dupes has become a growing concern, […]
The AI Copyright Conundrum: Memorising or Learning?
“Copyright protects reproductions, so from a legal perspective, the way you assess memorisation is by looking at the output.” – Vincent Bergeron By Julius Melnitzer | March 4, 2026 The immediate and growing controversy over whether artificial intelligence (AI) “learns” or “memorises” is raising a foundational challenge to copyright law. What’s ignited the controversy are recent […]