Marc retired from the practice of law in 2014. He is a Registered Trademark Agent (Canada) and a key member of our Business Law team. During his career as a lawyer, Marc practiced in Intellectual Property, Computer and Technology Transactions, Corporate and Commercial Transactions and Securities Law and is fluently bilingual in English and French.
Born in Montréal, he first came to Dal in 1977 for his undergraduate studies. Later in life, Marc returned to Halifax and began practicing law in 1991. In 1997, he became a Trademark Agent. He appeared before all levels of courts, worked on the historic privatization of Nova Scotia's electric utility, assisted in numerous securities offerings and represented large corporations in servicing their IP and IT legal requirements during the early days of the internet’s development when little legislation or jurisprudence was available.
Marc is also an experienced musician, has published original songs and performs regularly in Halifax. He is happily married with four children.
The ubiquitous use of Copyright Notices on websites isn’t always understood by business owners. Let’s review why internet websites almost universally display Copyright Notices.
Read full articleTrademarks can become extremely valuable. For example, Amazon, Apple and Google are each currently valued at well over $300 billion. So, the small cost to register them is money well spent.
Read full articleLooking back at Canadian copyright law over the last decade, one of the biggest developments was the 2012 Copyright Modernization Act, which expanded fair dealing user rights and recognized numerous socially acceptable means of reproducing copyrightable works without infringing them.
Read full articleCanadian trademark practice is evolving every year due to technological advancements in brand marketing and changes in the law itself, whether through legislative amendments to the Trademarks Act or as a result of new judicial interpretations.
Read full articleIt is not often that our Supreme Court of Canada (“SCC”) decides a copyright case. So, it’s always exciting to read their latest thoughts on the interpretation of the Copyright Act (“Act”).
Read full articleWhen you sue someone for copying your original work of art, music, drama or fiction without your permission, it’s often difficult, time consuming and very costly to calculate and prove the full amount of your financial losses.
Read full articleDuring the last century, composers, musicians and their copyright lawyers held a traditional belief and legal understanding that copyright infringement lawsuits related only to stolen lyrics and copied melodies, but not for more abstract compositional elements.
Read full articleA recent dispute over a peanut butter flavoured craft beer (produced locally in Bedford) provided an excellent example of the importance of searching the availability of your proposed brand before it is officially launched in your marketplace.
Read full articleIn Canada, the Copyright Act governs all matters related to an artist’s rights to her or his creative works, including how long those legal rights subsist and how they devolve upon the artist’s death.
Read full articleTwo years ago, I blogged about a U.S. Supreme Court (USSC) decision striking down a trademark law prohibiting the registration of “disparaging” words and phrases because the prohibition was found to unduly restrict “free speech” and was therefore unconstitutional.
Read full articleThe Trademarks Act (the “Act”) contains a unique provision that allows “public authorities” to by-pass the normal trademark registration application process and to protect their “official marks” indefinitely. There is no similar provision in any other country’s trademark protection regime.
Read full articleTwo recent and interesting Canadian copyright infringement cases have bubbled up to the highest courts in the land and threaten to carve a new exception in the intellectual property behemoth that has become copyright law. The issue is whether certain works should not be copyrightable.
Read full articleOn June 17, 2019, five years after the Harper government made countless amendments to the Trade-marks Act (the “Act”) in omnibus budget legislation (Bill C-31 of 2014), the famous Canadian hyphen (inside the word “Trade-marks” of the Act’s title) will become a thing of the past.
Read full articleThere is an old maxim about brands and trade-marks: “Use it or Lose it”.
Read full articleNon-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs), sometimes called Confidentiality Agreements, are a type of contract which compels its parties to come under the proverbial “cone of silence.”
Read full articleWhen your favourite local cover band performs an exact rendition of Brown-Eyed Girl, Sweet Home Alabama or Wagon Wheel, are they infringing the copyright of the song’s owner?
Read full articleWhile a trade-mark does not have to be registered, the legal advantages and significant benefits of registration are undeniable.
Read full articleYou’ve often heard the old legal saying “hard cases make bad law.” Well, it still happens.
Read full articleOn June 19, 2017, the U.S. Supreme Court (USSC) delivered a unanimous decision that the 1946 trade-mark law (Lanham Act) prohibiting the registration of “disparaging” words and phrases, violated the country’s constitution as an unacceptable restriction on free speech.
Read full articleDuring the most popular week for burgers in Halifax, it was reported that lawyers for McDonald’s Corporation sent a cease and desist letter to a Halifax restaurant. A cease and desist letters can have a strong deterrent effect, if it's without solid legal foundation, the sender loses credibility.
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