LAW & LEGAL ISSUES

15 March 2012

Legal Systems
Intellectual Property
Occupational Health & Safety
Responsibility or Liability

Law & Legal Systems

Laws are established by a competent authority

to regulate what is forbidden, required, or
acceptable.
Laws are subdivided into

Public Law governs relations of state or between

state and individuals. Example: constitutional law,
administrative law, criminal law.
Private Law governs relations between individuals.
Example: contract law, commercial law.

Internation
al Law
Public Law

Constitutio
nal Law
Administra
tive Law
Legal
divisions

Criminal
Law
Property
Law

Private
Law

Profession
al Code

Law &
Commerce

Intellectual
Property
Liability

Law &
Society

Health &
Safety

Legal Systems

Legal System:

The existing system for interpreting and

enforcing laws
A set of institutions that enforce laws

Different legal systems

Civil Law
English Common Law
Mixed
Religious Law
Customary law

Legal Systems in the World

English
Common Law

Civil
Law

Mixed
Law

Islamic
Law

Comparing Legal Systems

Civil Law System

English Common Law

Laws are based on codes and earlier

cases.

Laws are written into systematic

collections (codes).

Laws are created by legislatures

Decisions based on laws

Precedence has no value.

Laws are created by legislatures &

judges

Decisions are based on laws and

precedence
Statutes are interpreted based on
precedence.

Quebecs Legal System

Quebec has a
mixed legal
system
Criminal matters
are decided by
English Common
Law
Property and civil
matters are
based on the
Quebec Civil Code

Civil Code of Quebec

Fundamental law in the Province on disputes between

private people and on property.

The Civil Code comprises a body of rules which, in all

matters within the letter, spirit or object of its provisions,
lays down the law of the land, expressly or by
implication.
Governs relationship between people and property
Sales, Contracts, Family

Derived from French Civil Law,

Legislation is the primary source of law,

Courts are not dependent on precedent

Intellectual Property

Intellectual Property

Common types of Intellectual Property

Copyrights

Trademarks

Patents

Industrial Design rights

Integrated Circuit Topographies

Canadian Intellectual Property Office

Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO)

associated with Industry Canada, is responsible
for the administration and processing of the
greater part of intellectual property in Canada.

www.cipo.ic.gc.ca

Governed by Federal Statutes

Canada Patent Act, Canadian Copyright Law,

Trademark Act, Industrial Design Act, Integrated
Circuit Topography Act.

Patents

Patent is a government grant that gives

inventors exclusive rights to their
inventions.
In Canada the inventors have rights for 20
years from date of filing.
Criteria for patent

Invention must be new

Be useful (functional and operative)
Show inventive ingenuity not obvious to someone
with skills.

Invention can be product, chemical

Trademarks

A trade-mark is a word, symbol or design, or a

combination of these, used to distinguish the
goods or services of one organization from
those of others.
3 kinds of trademarks

Ordinary marks are words and/or symbols that

distinguish the goods or services of a specific
firm. (eg. Dell)
Certification marks identify goods or services
that meet a standard set by a governing
organization. (eg. Energy Star)
Distinguishing guise identifies the shaping of

Copyright

Copyright is the exclusive right to allow someone to

copy a creative work
Copyright applies to artistic, literary, musical works,
computer programs, and sound recordings (CD, tapes).
Not copyright: Facts, themes, ideas, most titles,
names, catch-phrases and other short-word
combinations.
Copyright is owned by creator, employer or one who
commissions it.
Duration of copyright in Canada exists for the life of
the creator plus 50 years following death.

Industrial Designs

An industrial design is the features of shape,

configuration, pattern or ornament (or any combination
of these) applied to a finished article.
It may be, for example, the shape of a table or the
ornamentation on the handle of a spoon.
What cannot be protected

the functional features of an article;

a principle of construction, or how an article is built;
the materials used in the construction of an article;
colour per se; or
ideas.

Integrated Circuit Topographies (ICT)

An ICT refers to the three-dimensional

configuration of the electronic circuits used
in microchips and semiconductor chips.
ICT protection will give you exclusive rights
over the copying of the topography and the
commercialization of circuits that contain the
topography.
Registration grants you exclusive rights for
10years on your original circuit design.

Occupational Health &

Safety

Occupational Health & Safety (OHS)

In Canada, jurisdiction to ensure OHS is

shared between federal, provincial and
territories.
In general, authority on OHS issues rests
with provinces for 90% of Canadian
workers.
Canadian Centre for Occupational Health
& Safety advances safe and healthy
workplaces in Canada.

Occupational Health &

Safety

Supervisors
Responsibilities

to ensure that workers

use prescribed
protective equipment
devices
to advise workers of
potential and actual
hazards
to take every reasonable
precaution in the
circumstance for the
protection of workers

Employees
Responsibilities

to work in compliance
with OH&S acts and
regulations
to use personal protective
equipment and clothing
as directed
to report hazards and
dangers
to work in a manner as
required by the employer
and use the prescribed
safety equipment

Employees Rights

To refuse to do unsafe work

To participate in the workplace health
and safety activities through Joint Health
and Safety Committee (JHSC) or as a
worker health and safety representative
To be informed about actual and
potential dangers

Due Diligence
Due Diligence is a legal term that suggests
that all reasonable precautions, under the
particular circumstances, were taken.
"Due diligence" is important as a legal
defense for a person charged under
occupational health and safety legislation
If charged, a defendant may be found not
guilty if he or she can prove that due
diligence was exercised

Due Diligence 14-point Checklist

(Adapted from the CCOHS web page)

1.

Do you know and understand your safety and health responsibilities?

2.

Do you have definite procedures in place to identify and control hazards?

3.

Have you integrated safety into all aspects of your work?

4.

Do you set objectives for safety and health just as you do for quality, production and sales?

5.

Have you committed appropriate resources to safety and health?

6.

7.
8.

9.

Have you explained safety and health responsibilities to all employees and made sure that they
understand it?
Have employees been trained to work safely and use proper protective equipment?
Is there a hazard reporting procedure in place that encourages employees to report all unsafe
conditions and unsafe practices to their supervisors?
Are managers, supervisors, and workers held accountable for safety and health just as they are
held accountable for quality?

10.

Is safety a factor when acquiring new equipment or changing process?

11.

Do you keep records of your program activities and improvements?

12.

Do you keep records of the training each employee has received?

13.

14.

Do your records show that you take disciplinary action when an employee violates safety
procedures?
Do you review your OSH program at least once a year and make improvement as needed?

Will not be in the quiz/exam

Act Respecting Occupational Health & Safety

(Quebec)

Introduced in 1979. Act that has

Regulations to deal with

Rights to Workers

"ordinary" workplaces as well as construction sites, mines and

quarries, foundries, shipyards etc.
special topics such as working with explosives, concrete pumps
and distribution masts, ice cutting, forestry operations, work in
the vicinity of power lines, concrete formwork etc.
Right to refuse work
Right to participate in Health & Safety committees

Employers Burden: Rights overshadowed by Obligations

Prevention Programmes in various industries according to
risk

To eliminate at the source, risks to the health, safety & wellbeing

of workers

Responsibility
Moral Responsibility
Responsibility in the Workplace
Legal Responsibility or Liability

Click icon to add picture

Burden of Responsibility
Responsibility responding or answering for an
action performed.
Accounting for individuals actions

Moral Responsibility

Moral basis arises from

Fixing causal agency on the individual who

performs the action
Degree of wilful intent circumstances are
important

Roles & Responsibilities

Roles help grounding responsibilities

Roles create expectations
Individuals are held accountable when they do
not meet role expectations

Roles & Responsibilities

Responsibility in the
Workplace

Responsibility to Employers

Responsibility to the Profession

Responsibility to the Public

Liability or Legal
Responsibility

Legal Responsibility is accountability that

is backed up by the power of the law.

Liability is contractual or
extracontractual in its origin.

Extra-contractual responsibility that is

owed by customs, usage or law
Contractual responsibility that is owed
within the bounds of an explicit contract.

Evolution of Liability - in Common Law

Buyers bore all liability of products bought.

With increasing complexity of products, sellers

now bear liability for products

Caveat Emptor buyers beware

You buy products at your own risk

Caveat Vendidor Let the seller beware

Sellers are penalized for negligent designs

Strict Liability

Responsibility is assigned in public interest even

in the absence of negligence
Responsibility on engineers to consider likely uses
and users of products.

Liability in Quebec in the Civil Code

Civil Liability Responsibility to pay for

damages or harms caused

Compensation is given if three things are

established

An act of omission
A consequence
A cause-effect relation between act and
consequence

Legal Provisions of Liability in Quebec

Extra-contractual
Liability
Contractual Liability
Ownership Liability
Manufacturers
Liability
Definition of a safety
effect
Superior Force
Victims knowledge

Intentional Fault

Limitation of Notices

Damages due

Contract of Enterprise

Absence of subordination

Special provisions respecting works

Workmanship