The arrival of 2012 marked the end of a year filled with numerous developments in technology and IP law. Taking a cue from the Canadian Communications Law blog, we've decided that this would be an excellent time to reflect on the past year and review some of its more notable developments. To that end, we've put together a list of the top 10 technology and IP law developments from the past year.

Without further ado, here are our picks for the top 10:

  1. Court of Appeal recognizes reasonable expectation of privacy in contents of work computer - In R. v. Cole, a teacher discovered with nude images of a student on his work laptop was found by the Ontario Court of Appeal to have a reasonable expectation of privacy with respect to his personal files on that laptop.
  2. No liability for defamation for basic hyperlinks, says Supreme Court - In a decision that came as a relief to bloggers, tweeters, webpage owners and other providers and hosts of internet content, the Supreme Court of Canada clarified in Crookes v. Newton that merely providing hyperlinks to defamatory content will not lead to liability for defamation.
  3. Ontario Court of Appeal holds that domain names constitute personal property - In a landmark decision, the Ontario Court of Appeal ruled in Tucows.Com Co. v. Lojas Renner S.A. that a registered domain name constituted intangible personal property. The court found that the bundle of rights associated with a domain name were sufficient to characterize domain names as "a new type of personal property."
  4. That's a wrap: BC Supreme Court enforces website terms of use and validates "browse wrap" agreements in Century 21 v Zoocasa - In Century 21 Canada Limited Partnership v Rogers Communications Inc., the BC Supreme Court found that "browse wrap" agreements, in the form of a website's posted terms of service, can form valid contracts even if not brought to the attention of users, and without any requirement of review or acknowledgement by users.
  5. Rolling the dice: Alberta court invalidates certain PIPA provisions - The Alberta Court of Queen's Bench struck down certain provisions in Alberta's Personal Information Protection Act as being contrary to the Charter in United Food and Commercial Workers, Local 401 v. Alberta (Information and Privacy Commissioner). The impugned provisions, which are mirrored in the federal PIPEDA legislation, were found to unduly restrict the use of images recorded at a public demonstration.
  6. Leon's to ho ho hold onto customer information: SCC dismisses Privacy Commissioner's appeal - In Information and Privacy Commissioner of Alberta v. Leon's Furniture Limited, the Supreme Court of Canada dismissed an application for leave to appeal a ruling which found that "reasonable" collection of personal information does not necessarily mean that an organization must employ the "best" or "least intrusive" methods.
  7. Fourth time lucky? Government introduces copyright reform bill—again - Industry Minister Christian Paradis tabled Bill C-11, An Act to Amend the Copyright Act, in the fourth attempt since 2005 to revise the Copyright Act. At its introduction the bill was identical to Bill C-32, which was introduced in June 2010 but died on the order paper at the end of the parliamentary session.
  8. Federal Court of Appeal says broadcasting policy trumps copyright law: CRTC has power to allow local broadcasters to demand fee for carriage - The Federal Court of Appeal issued a split decision in Reference re the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission's Broadcasting Regulatory Policy CRTC 2010-167 and Broadcasting Order CRTC 2010-168 affirming the scope of the powers of the CRTC. The majority of the court found that the Copyright Act permits the CRTC to limit the statutory retransmission rights of broadcasters such as cable companies by imposing any regulatory or licensing condition that is consistent with the CRTC's authority under the Broadcasting Act.
  9. Nothing up in the air about privacy: foreign airline must comply with Canadian law - In a Report of Findings, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada confirmed that foreign businesses which operate or provide services in Canada will be subject to all requirements of Canadian privacy law, regardless of the scope of the privacy regimes in their home countries.
  10. Who was that masked man? Court protects anonymity of Internet users - In Morris v. Johnson, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice refused to order the disclosure of the identities of three individuals who posted under pseudonyms to an online forum. The court affirmed that in cases of alleged defamation by anonymous parties, plaintiffs are required to prima facie establish the elements of defamation before courts will consider ordering the production of identity information.

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