IT agreements

A Multimillion-dollar Dispute Over a Failed Research Agreement: SunSource v University of Windsor

Every now and then a case provides a teaching moment. The recent case, Sunsource v. University of Windsor, 2022 ONSC 6047, is such a case. Sunsource involved a dispute over a failed R&D agreement between Sunsource and University of Windsor. It provides a good refresher on important contract issues including the interpretation of agreements, contractual integration clauses, principles governing recovery of damages including remoteness principles, and disclaimer or exclusions of liability clauses including consequential damages disclaimers.

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Sunsource brought a lawsuit against the University of Windsor, seeking damages of $40 million for alleged breaches of contract, misrepresentation, and intentional unlawful interference with economic relations.…

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Why you need a good information technology lawyer for complex IT agreements: CIS v IBM

If you are an information technology lawyer you will want to read the recent decision from the U.K., CIS General Insurance Ltd v IBM United Kingdom Ltd [2021] EWHC 347 (TCC) (19 February 2021). The case resulted from what the court described as “a disastrous IT project” for a build and run insurance system project in which IBM wrongfully terminated the contract to avoid mounting losses. The case is replete with abject lessons for information technology lawyers who draft and negotiate or litigate complex IT agreements.…

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Top legal developments in e-commerce, privacy and intellectual property

Despite COVID-19, 2020 was an eventful year, chock full of impactful legal developments in e-commerce, technology, privacy, anti-spam, and intellectual property law. Here is a summary of my picks for the top legal developments.

e-commerce

Standard form online agreements and unconscionability

Online and in-App agreements are typically presented to users as “standard form”, “take it or leave it”, “boiler plate” forms. Most common are some variation of a “click-wrap”, “sign-in wrap”, or “browsewrap” agreement. They are used pervasively on websites and on Apps, among other locations.…

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Developments in computer, Internet and e-commerce law: the year in review (2017-2018)

I gave my annual presentation today to the Toronto computer Lawyers’ Group on “The year in review in Computer, Internet and E-Commerce Law”. It covers the period from June 2017 to June 2018. The developments include cases from Canada, the U.S. the U.K., Singapore, Australia, and other countries.

The developments are organized into the broad topics of:

Jurisdiction/Online Remedies/Conflicts of Laws
Hyperlinks/Search Results/Computer Generated Content
e-Commerce & Online Agreements
Technology Contracting
Privacy
Copyright
CASL.

The cases referred to are listed below.…

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The year in review: developments in computer, internet and e-commerce law (2016-2017)

I gave my annual presentation today to the Toronto computer Lawyers’ Group on “The year in review in Computer, Internet and E-Commerce Law”. It covered the period from June 2016 to June 2017. The developments included cases from Canada, the U.S. the U.K., and other EU and Commonwealth countries.

The developments were organized into the broad topics of: Online Liability/Intermediary Remedies, Copyright, Trade-marks/Domain Names, Technology Contracting, e-Commerce & Online Agreements, and Canada’s (despised) anti-spam/malware law, CASL

The cases referred to are listed below.…

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The year in review: developments in computer, internet and e-commerce law (2015-2016)

I gave my annual presentation today to the Toronto computer Lawyers’ Group on “The year in review in Computer, Internet and E-Commerce Law”. It covered the period from June 2015 to June 2016. The developments included cases from Canada, the U.S. the U.K., and other Commonwealth countries.

The developments were organized into the broad topics of: Technology Contracting, Online Agreements, Privacy, Online/Intermediary Liability/Responsibility, Copyright, and Trade-marks and Domain names.

The cases referred to are listed below. My slides can be viewed after the case listing.…

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The year in review: developments in computer, internet and e-commerce law (2014-2015)

I gave my annual presentation today to the Toronto computer Lawyers’ Group on “The year in review in Computer, Internet and E-Commerce Law”. It covered the period from June 2014 to June 2015. The developments included cases from Canada, the U.S. the U.K. and other Commonwealth countries.

The developments were organized into the broad topics of: Online Agreements, Licensing/Technology Contracting, Privacy, Online Liability, Cyber-security and Copyright.

The cases referred to are listed below. My slides can be viewed after the case listing.…

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contracts

Good faith and honesty contractual obligations says Supreme Court: Bhasin v. Hrynew

The Supreme Court released a landmark decision earlier this week in the case Bhasin v. Hrynew, 2014 SCC 71. The case is a very important one for all lawyers involved in negotiating, advising on, and enforcing contracts. This includes IT lawyers who are regularly engaged in complex tech transactions.

The decision establishes two new common principles that will apply to all contracts. First, there is a new “general organizing principle of good faith contractual performance”. Second, as a manifestation of this principle, there is a further common law duty of parties to a contract “to act honestly in the performance of contractual obligations”.…

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Online vendors owe purchasers a duty of care says an Ontario court: Hazjizadeh v Canada

Online vendors will be interested in a recent decision of an Ontario court in Hazjizadeh v Canada (Attorney General), 2014 CanLII 48552 (ON SCSM). In the ruling the court held that online advertisers owe a duty of care to prospective purchasers to ensure that their representations are true and not misleading. If they breach this duty, they may be held liable in negligence for online statements which induce purchasers to engage in transactions.

Statements that appear on commercial websites can be characterized for legal purposes in different ways.…

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Excluding damages for wrongful contract terminations: AB v CD

A recent UK case addressed an important contract issue for IT lawyers. Will a limit of liability clause that prevents recovery of damages for a wrongful termination of an agreement be a ground for granting an injunction to prevent the irreparable harm associated with the breach for which full damages cannot be recovered? Alternatively, will the liability exclusion be accepted as the bargain reached by the parties for such breaches and not be a basis for a finding of irreparable harm? …

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