Valerie Pelchat

The appellant software company appealed the dismissal of its claim that the respondent breached a distribution agreement by copying the features and functionality of its software to create a derivative work.

The Court of Appeal upheld the trial judge's factual findings that no copying occurred and that the respondent's use of a marketing presentation was authorized.

The Court also found no error in the trial judge's evidentiary rulings, including the exclusion of an omnibus package of documents under the party admissions exception to the hearsay rule and the exclusion of an expert report that lacked necessity.

The appeal was dismissed.

The applicants sought an order to enforce Letters Rogatory issued by a New York Court in a U.S. securities class action, compelling production of documents from the respondent, a non-party Ontario corporation.

The respondent opposed the application, arguing the requests were overly broad, irrelevant, and unduly burdensome.

The court applied the Friction Division guideposts and granted the application on a narrowed basis, restricting the temporal scope of the production and establishing a staged process to manage the costs and burden of electronic document review.

The plaintiffs, purchasers of pre-construction condominium and freehold units, brought motions for certificates of pending litigation (CPLs) against the development property after the original developer became insolvent and transferred the property to a new developer.

The purchase agreements contained non-registration clauses prohibiting the registration of CPLs.

The court found that while there was a triable issue regarding an interest in land based on constructive trust, the non-registration clauses and the equitable factors from Dhunna—including the lack of uniqueness of the property, the adequacy of damages, and the prejudice to new innocent purchasers—weighed heavily against granting the CPLs.

The motions were dismissed.