Department of Law and Business, Ted Rogers School of Management

LAW 723: Issues in Information Technology Law

FALL 2024, Section 011
Location: TRS3-147
Time: Fridays at 8AM – 11AM

Instructor Information
● Instructor Name: Matthew Marinett
● Office Location: TRS3-095
● Office Hours: Thursdays 2:00PM – 5:00 PM (or by appointment)
● Course Website: my.torontomu.ca (D2L Brightspace)
● Email Address: [email protected]

Email Policy
You may contact me at any time by email. I will respond to all emails as soon as I can. Please
use a TMU email account to send your message, and please put the class code in the subject
line, followed by the reason for your email.
If your question relates to the substance of the course content, it is helpful if you explain your
current understanding of the issue and what research you have done to try to answer your
question.

Note: This course, including all communication with the professor, does not constitute legal
advice.

Course Description
This course focuses on emerging legal problems associated with the growth of information
technology in Canada and internationally. It focuses on the legal protection of electronic
information and technology through patents, copyright, trademarks and trade secrets, and
upon contractual issues (electronic signatures, problems of verification, contracts which must
be in writing, and security of information) in the procurement of products and services,
especially through the Internet and other e-commerce conduits. A range of other topics, such

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as data protection and privacy, the regulation of the Internet, the harmonization of law
globally, and remedies will be discussed. Students should be in their graduating year.

Course Details

Teaching Methods
Course instruction is based primarily on lectures and assigned readings. We will regularly
discuss fact scenarios and hypotheticals in order to apply the legal principles we have covered.

I will make use of PowerPoint slides during my lectures. Class participation is strongly
encouraged, and I expect we will have interesting and productive discussions about the law and
its application to various issues and situations. I hope you feel willing and able to offer your
perspective.

I expect you to have reviewed the assigned readings and any other assigned materials. You will
gain much more by coming to class prepared. This is especially true given the degree to which
we will discuss the application of law to various fact scenarios.

In an attempt to make the course content as interesting and relevant as it can be, I may talk a
bit about related topics that you are not expected to know for evaluation purposes. This might
include interesting cases, areas of contestation or uncertainty, legal theory, or current events,
and so on. I will attempt to flag these so you know you need not take notes about them.

D2L Brightspace will be used for both administrative and course-content purposes. You are
responsible for checking your D2L Brightspace account regularly for course information.

Any matters that may affect your performance in the course must be raised with me as soon as
you know about them. Please do not rely on last-minute assistance. The best method of
receiving course-related help is to come to class prepared, ask informed questions and, if
necessary, seek me out for assistance.

Please do not hesitate to approach me, or the relevant person or office at TMU, with any issue
as soon as you perceive it as a problem, so that you can receive assistance as soon as possible.

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Note that the recording of lectures by any means (sound, video, picture etc.) without the
permission of the professor is prohibited.

Course Materials

Course material will be linked to in this syllabus or posed onto D2L. No textbook is required.
Resources for using D2L Brightspace are available here.

Course Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of Law 723, you should have a practical knowledge of many of the
major issues in information technology law. These include an understanding of how copyright
and other intellectual property laws impact online commerce, the major issues surrounding
electronic contracting, Canada’s online consumer protection laws, when courts assume
jurisdiction over international issues, and how Canada’s privacy regime operates and its
similarities and differences from privacy laws in other jurisdictions.

It is expected you will be able to:

 Identify the rules and principles of copyright law, trade-marks and patents and apply
them to issues and hypotheticals related to information technology.
 Understand the basics of copyright licensing in the context of software.
 Understand how domain name disputes are resolved between parties.
 Evaluate and explain the requirements and business risks of Canada’s privacy law
regime in a variety of contexts.
 Understand the role of electronic contracting and how contract law interacts with
the unique challenges of the online environment.
 Recognize the rights of consumers in electronic commerce and know how
businesses can manage risk when entering consumer transactions.
 Be knowledgeable about emerging issues in information technology law.
 Make nuanced arguments about the complexities of content regulation on the
internet and the proper role for government intervention.

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Academic Integrity
Academic integrity is integral to your learning, the credibility of your degree or certification,
and the integrity of the university as a whole. Senate Policy 60: Academic Integrity defines
academic misconduct, provides a non-exhaustive list of examples of behaviours that may be
considered as academic misconduct, and explains how academic misconduct concerns are
evaluated and decided. The entirety of the policy applies in this course. As well, please note
that submitting work created in whole or in part by artificial intelligence tools unless expressly
permitted by the Faculty/Contract Lecturer, is considered a violation of Policy 60.

Turnitin
Turnitin is a plagiarism prevention and detection service to which TMU subscribes. It is a tool to
assist instructors in determining the similarity between students’ work and the work of other
students who have submitted papers to the site (at any university), internet sources, and a wide
range of books, journals and other publications. While it does not contain all possible sources, it
gives instructors some assurance that students’ work is their own. No decisions are made by
the service; it generates an “originality report,” which instructors must evaluate to judge if
something is plagiarized.

Students agree by taking this course that their written work will be subject to submission for
textual similarity review to Turnitin. Instructors can opt to have student’s papers included in the
Turnitin database or not. Use of the Turnitin service is subject to the terms-of-use agreement
posted on the Turnitin website. Students who do not want their work submitted to this
plagiarism detection service must, by the end of the second week of class, consult with their
instructor to make alternate arrangements. Students who choose not to have their papers
screened for textual similarity review by turnitin may be required to submit additional work
with their assignments, such as an annotated bibliography.

Statement on Use of Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence is, and will continue to be, a significant part of professional practice in
both law and business. However, note that the use of artificial intelligence systems like large
language models (e.g ChatGPT, GPT-4, Bard, etc) to complete assignments is prohibited except
where expressly permitted. Suspected uses of AI to complete assignments where AI is not
permitted will be investigated and may result in charges of academic misconduct.

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Topics and Course Schedule

Week Date Topic Readings

Sept 6 ● Topic: Introduction and the
Internet ● Class 1 Slides
○ Brief history of the ● Haaretz.com v Goldhar,
internet 2018 SCC 28
○ Basic internet ● SOCAN v CAIP, 2004 SCC
Week 1 structure 45
○ Governance of the
Internet
○ Internet Jurisdiction
○ AI Intro

Sept 13 ● Topic: Copyright Online  University of Alberta,

○ Copyright Basics “Canadian Copyright
○ Fair Dealing Law”
○ Technological https://www.ualberta.c
Neutrality a/faculty-and-
○ Non-Commercial User staff/copyright/intro-to-
Generated Content copyright-law/canadian-
copyright-law.html
 Copyright Act [Read
section 1 to 14; section
Week 2 27 (up to 27.1); and
section 29 to 29.2]
 CCH Canadian Ltd. v
Law Society of Upper
Canada, 2004 SCC 13
[read to paragraph 76]
 ESA v SOCAN, 2012 SCC
34 [read headnote]
 Rogers v SOCAN, 2012
SCC 35 [read headnote]
 Class 2 Slides

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 Sept 20 ● Topic: Copyright Safe Harbours  Class 3 Slides
and Copyright Licensing  Class 3 Sample Licenses
○ Copyright Safe on D2L
Harbours  Copyright Act [Read the
○ Notice and Takedown section on Provisions
Week 3
/ Notice and Notice Respecting Providers of
○ Algorithmic Copyright Network Services or
Enforcement Information Location
○ Copyright Licenses Tools, beginning at
section 41.25]

Sept 27 ● Topic: Trademarks & Domain ● Trademarks Act [Read

Name Dispute Resolution sections 1-7, 12, 17 -21]
Week 4 (Pre- ○ Trademark Basics ● Mattel, Inc. v. 3894207
(Pre- Recorded ○ Universal Domain- Canada Inc., 2006 SCC 22
Recorded Class on Name Dispute- ● Universal Domain-Name
Class) D2L) Resolution Policy Dispute-Resolution
(UDRP) Policy (UDRP)
● Class 4 Slides

Oct 4 ● Topic: Patents & Trade Secrets ● Canada v Amazon, 2011

○ Patent Basics FCA 328
○ Software & Business ● Cadbury Schweppes Inc.
Method Patents v. FBI Foods Ltd. [1999] 1
Week 5 ○ Trade secret law and SCR 142
protection ● Class 5 Slides
○ Digital Locks and
Encryption
○ Non-Disclosure
Agreements
Oct 11 ● Topic: Electronic Contracting & ● Take a look at the
Legal Research Ontario Electronic
○ Enforceability Commerce Act
Week 6 ○ Offer and Acceptance ● Rudder v. Microsoft
○ Standard Form Corp., 1999
Contracts ● Kanitz v. Rogers Cable
○ Electronic Signatures Inc., 2002

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 ● Legal Research Class 6 Slides

Reading Oct 18
Week NONE

Oct 25 ● Topic: Consumer Protection  Ontario Consumer

Online Protection Act [Read
○ Internet Agreements sections 1 through 40]
○ Deceptive Marketing  Completion Act [Read
Week 7 ○ Provincial Consumer sections 52 and 74.01]
Protection  Ramdath v. George
○ Competition Issues Brown College, 2012
ONSC 6173
 Class 7 Slides

Nov 1 ● Topic: Emerging Issues  Google v Equustek, 2017

○ AI Regulation SCC 34
○ Online News Act  Proposed Artificial
Week 8 ○ Online Streaming Act Intelligence and Data Act
○ Global content [It’s Part 3 of Bill C-27]
takedown orders  Online News Act
 Class 8 Slides

Nov 8 ● Topic: Online Privacy & PIPEDA ● PIPEDA, sections 1-7 and
○ Privacy in Canada Schedule 1 (the
○ PIPEDA Overview Principles)
Week 9
● Jones v Tsige, 2012
ONCA 32
● Class 9 Slides

Nov 15 ● Topic: Privacy: PIPEDA ● OPCC Guidelines on

Continued and Anti-Spam privacy and online
Legislation behavioural advertising
Week 10 ○ Identifying Purposes ● Canada (Privacy
○ Consent Commissioner) v.
○ Privacy Reform Facebook, Inc., 2023 FC
○ Privacy Policies 533

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 ○ Territorial reach of ● OPCC investigation of
PIPEDA LSAC
○ Anti-Spam Legislation ● Class 10 Slides

Nov 22 ● Topic: Privacy Reform  European Union, “What

○ GDPR Overview is the GDPR”? and
○ Right to be Forgotten “Cookies, the GDPR, and
○ Privacy Reform the ePrivacy Directive”
 Google, “Five Years of
the Right to be
Week 11
Forgotten”
 Take a look at the
proposed Consumer
Protection and Privacy
Act [Part 1 of Bill C-27]
 Class 11 Slides

Nov 29 ● Topic: Internet Content  Emily Laidlaw & Hilary

Regulation and Governance Young, “Internet
○ Intermediary Liability Intermediary Liability in
○ Algorithmic Copyright Defamation” 2019
Enforcement (pages 112 to 124)
○ Proposed Online  Sara Morrison, “Section
Week 12 Harms Act 230, the internet law
that’s under threat,
explained,” Vox
 Take a look at the
proposed Online Harms
Act [Part 1 of Bill C-63]
 Class 12 Slides

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Evaluation
You can generally expect to receive grades for the first two assignments within two weeks of
the due date, or receipt of the assignment, whichever is later. The due dates below are the
ones anticipated, but they are subject to change and you will be notified of the correct due date
on the provided assignment sheet.

Late Work: Assignments received late without an academic consideration request will lose
10% of the available grade on the assignment per day

Assessment Weighting Breakdown

Evaluation Component Percentage of Final Grade

Attendance and Participation 10%

 Participation can be in class or online (5% for participation, 5% for attendance)

through discussion topics on D2L
Brightspace

1 Page License Draft (Due October 6 at 20%

midnight)

● Draft a copyright license to meet the

needs of a provided scenario.

Fact Pattern Response (Due October 27 at 30%

midnight)

 Detailed instructions to be posted on

D2L Brightspace

Final Analysis Paper 40%

● Topic, thesis statement, and (10% for thesis and annotated bibliography,
annotated bibliography due 30% for the final paper)
November 24 at midnight
● Paper due December 8 at midnight

Total: 100%

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University Policies
Students must be reminded that they are required to adhere to all relevant university policies
found in their online course shell in D2L and/or on the Senate website.

Important Resources Available at Toronto Metropolitan University

 The University Libraries provide research workshops and individual consultation
appointments. There is a drop-in Research Help desk on the second floor of the library,
and students can use the Library's virtual research help service to speak with a librarian,
or book an appointment to meet in person or online.

 Student Life and Learning Support offers group-based and individual help with writing,
math, study skills, and transition support, as well as resources and checklists to support
students as online learners.

 You can submit an Academic Consideration Request when an extenuating circumstance

has occurred that has significantly impacted your ability to fulfill an academic
requirement. You may always visit the Senate website and select the blue radio button
on the top right hand side entitled: Academic Consideration Request (ACR) to submit
this request.

For Extenuating Circumstances, Policy 167: Academic Consideration allows for a once
per semester ACR request without supporting documentation if the absence is less than
3 days in duration and is not for a final exam/final assessment. Absences more than 3
days in duration and those that involve a final exam/final assessment, always require
documentation. Students must notify their instructor once a request for academic
consideration is submitted. See Senate Policy 167: Academic Consideration.

 If taking a remote course, familiarize yourself with the tools you will need to use for
remote learning. The Remote Learning Guide for students includes guides to
completing quizzes or exams in D2L Brightspace, with or without Respondus LockDown
Browser and Monitor, using D2L Brightspace, joining online meetings or lectures, and
collaborating with the Google Suite.

 Information on Copyright for Faculty and students.

 Information on Academic Integrity for Faculty and students.

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Accessibility
● I am committed to making this course accessible to students with disabilities. Please let
me know if there is a way that I can increase the accessibility of the course.
● Slides will be uploaded prior to each lecture to assist with notetaking and following the
lectures. Typically, slides will be uploaded about two days prior to class.
● Note that lectures will not be recorded, but I am happy to discuss any material with you
during office hours or through a Zoom meeting.
● Lectures will combine visual and oral presentation, and I aim to ensure that the material
is delivered effectively through both formats
● Please send me an email ([email protected]) if you discover an accessibility
barrier with any course materials or technologies

Academic Accommodation Support

Academic Accommodation Support (AAS) is the university's disability services office. AAS works
directly with incoming and returning students looking for help with their academic
accommodations. AAS works with any student who requires academic accommodation
regardless of program or course load.

 Learn more about Academic Accommodation Support.

 Learn how to register with AAS.

 Learn about Policy 159: Academic Accommodation of Students with Disabilities

Academic Accommodations (for students with disabilities) and Academic Consideration (for
students faced with extenuating circumstances that can include short-term health issues) are
governed by two different university policies. Learn more about Academic Accommodations
versus Academic Consideration and how to access each.

Wellbeing Support
At Toronto Metropolitan University, we recognize that things can come up throughout the term
that may interfere with a student’s ability to succeed in their coursework. These circumstances
are outside of one’s control and can have a serious impact on physical and mental well-being.
Seeking help can be a challenge, especially in those times of crisis.

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If you are experiencing a mental health crisis, please call 911 and go to the nearest hospital
emergency room. You can also access these outside resources at anytime:

 Distress Line: 24/7 line for if you are in crisis, feeling suicidal or in need of emotional
support (phone: 416–408–4357)

 Good2Talk: 24/7-hour line for postsecondary students (phone: 1-866-925-5454)

 Keep.meSAFE: 24/7 access to confidential support through counsellors via My SSP app
or 1-844-451-9700

If non-crisis support is needed, you can access these campus resources:

 Centre for Student Development and Counselling: 416-979-5195 or email

[email protected]

 Consent Comes First – Office of Sexual Violence Support and Education: 416-919-5000
ext 3596 or email [email protected]

 Medical Centre: call (416) 979-5070 to book an appointment

We encourage all Toronto Metropolitan University community members to access available

resources to ensure support is reachable. You can find more resources available through the
Toronto Metropolitan University Mental Health and Wellbeing website.

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