Category Archives: Competition Bureau

November 13, 2014

Hockey Helmet Case a Reminder of Canada’s Performance Claim Rules (and a Few Key Points)

Performance claims remain a popular advertising strategy for many brands. These can include statements about a product’s speed, reliability or other performance. Performance claims in Canada, however, are subject to both the “general misleading advertising” sections of the Competition Act (Act) and a stand-alone performance … Read the rest of this entry »

September 23, 2014

General Impressions Matter: US FTC, Australian ACCC Take Issue Over Headline Claims (and Some Compliance Tips)

In the advertising law world, general impressions matter – a lot. In Canada, the federal Competition Act even includes specific sections that provide that the general impression of a claim (i.e., not merely the literal meaning of an advertising claim or what is included in … Read the rest of this entry »

September 18, 2014

Canadian Competition Bureau Issues Updated Competition Compliance Guidelines

Canada’s Competition Bureau (the “Bureau”) has been working over the past year or two to update its competition law compliance guidelines and policies. Competition law compliance has also figured prominently in recent remarks by Canada’s new Commissioner of Competition, John Pecman (see for example: here). As … Read the rest of this entry »

September 8, 2014

Magic Green Beans for Weight Loss? Not Worth Trading a Cow For Says US FTC

In an interesting case that caught my eye earlier today, the U.S. FTC announced a proposed settlement with Texas-based Applied Food Sciences Inc. (AFS) in relation to allegedly “baseless” green coffee extract weight loss claims. According to the FTC, AFS, which sells a green coffee … Read the rest of this entry »

August 29, 2014

IP Law: A Primer on Canadian Trademark Law

WHAT ARE TRADEMARKS? A mark (words, names, symbols, devices, sounds, smells, trade dress) used to distinguish the goods and services of one business from similar goods and services of all other businesses. In Canada, it is possible to register the non-functional shape of a product … Read the rest of this entry »

July 12, 2014

Contest Law: A Few Interesting Recent Questions, Including CASL & Criminal Code

CANADIAN CONTEST RULES/PRECEDENTS Do you need contest rules/precedents for a Canadian contest? We offer many types of Canadian contest/sweepstakes law precedents and forms (i.e., Canadian contest/sweepstakes law precedents to run common types of contests in Canada).  These include precedents for random draw contests (i.e., where … Read the rest of this entry »

June 29, 2014

CASL (Anti-spam Law): A Few Impacts of the New Law as the “Coming Into Force Dust Settles”

CANADIAN CASL (ANTI-SPAM LAW) PRECEDENTS Do you need a precedent or checklist to comply with CASL (Canadian anti-spam law)? We offer Canadian anti-spam law (CASL) precedents and checklists to help electronic marketers comply with CASL.  These include checklists and precedents for express consent requests (including … Read the rest of this entry »

June 26, 2014

What Is Competition Law?: A Few Interesting, Frequent and Important Competition & Advertising Law Questions – Part III

Several days ago I posted several short notes discussing a few of the more interesting, frequent and important competition and advertising law questions I’ve received over the past few years (see: here and here). Today I thought I would write one more with a few … Read the rest of this entry »