In this issue - #125 July 30, 2009

Pushor Mitchell is pleased to welcome Deanna Stone to the firm as an associate lawyer. Deanna was called to the British Columbia Bar in 2009 after completing her articles with the firm. She will be practicing primarily in the areas of Wills and Estates, Business Law, Real Estate, and General Civil Litigation. She looks forward to serving our existing and new clients in these areas.

Deanna can be contacted at (250) 869-1229 or stone@pushormitchell.com

Pushor Mitchell articling student Mark Danielson recently had a paper published in the presitigious University of Minnesota’s Journal of Law, Science and Technology. The paper entitled, 'Economic Espionage, A Framework for a Workable Solution" is available here http://mjlst.umn.edu/pdfs/102_danielson.pdf

Mark can be contacted at (250) 869-1284 or danielson@pushormitchell.com

On July 23, 2009 the Province of British Columbia announced its intention to harmonize the 7% Provincial Sales Tax (the “PST”) with the Federal Goods and Services Tax (the “GST”).  Harmonization will be effective July 1, 2010. 
 

The British Columbia Court of Appeal recently upheld a trial decision which found that Francesco Aquilini did not owe a fiduciary duty to his former business partners.  Mr. Aquilini worked together with R. Thomas Gaglardi and Ryan K. Beedie towards the possible purchase of a 50% interest in the Vancouver Canucks.  After the group’s negotiations with the owners of the team failed, Mr. Aquilini withdrew from the group and negotiated directly with the vendors. 

The Children's Fitness Tax Credit provides a tax credit on up to $500 of expenses incurred by parents to provide for participation of their children in supervised physical activities.  Generally, the credit applies to children under the age of 16 except where the child qualifies for the disability tax credit, in which case the limit is 18 years of age.  The expense incurred must be an "eligible fitness expenses", which generally means that the activity must be a supervised physical activity.  Regulation 9400 of the Income Tax Act (Canada) provides greater detail as to what are prescribed activities. 

We’re all familiar with hearing a flight attendant ask, “Is there a doctor on board?” due to an in-flight medical emergency.  Most of us, however, are probably not familiar with the concept of doctors claiming an entitlement to be paid for the services they provide in response.

Licensing or assigning your intellectual property rights (such as trade-marks, copyrights and patents) to other companies can generate lucrative license fees and royalties but it can also be a minefield. To protect yourself, it is imperative to get these licensing and/or assignment arrangements in writing so as to avoid costly litigation in the future.