TOPIC

The relation of Internet-based communications to geographically-based legal systems has been a problem since at least the beginnings of electronic commerce a decade ago. We have seen accessibility tests and interactivity tests and targeting tests. We have seen anti-suit actions to pre-empt jurisdiction of foreign courts (more or less successful). Legal systems interact with the Internet in deciding the competence of civil courts and also in criminal and regulatory activities. This talk will cover some relatively recent trends on all those fronts, offering a summary and perhaps guidelines for the activity of lawyers, their clients, and governments.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

John D. Gregory
Policy Division, Ministry of the Attorney General (Ontario)

John D. Gregory is General Counsel in the Policy Division, Ministry of the Attorney General (Ontario). After clerking for the Chief Justice of Canada, he was called to the Bar in 1977. He practised commercial law in Toronto with Wright & McTaggart until 1985, when he joined the provincial government. He chaired the working group that produced the Uniform Electronic Evidence Act and another that created the Uniform Electronic Commerce Act, both widely adopted across the country, including in Ontario. From 1997 through 2005 he was a member of the Canadian delegation to the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) working group on electronic commerce, which recently produced the Convention on the use of Electronic Communications in International Contracts.

He is a director of the Information Technology Lawyers Association of Canada (IT.Can) and a member of the Editorial Advisory Boards of Internet and E-Commerce Law in Canada and of the Canadian Journal of Law and Technology. He co-chairs the Subcommittee on Internet jurisdiction and global e-commerce of the Cyberspace Committee of the American Bar Association (Business Law Section).

The views expressed in his presentation to this meeting are not necessarily those of the Ministry of the Attorney General.

COST FOR ATTENDANCE

Cost for lunch: $10 for members and students, $15 for non-members, payable at the meeting. Receipts will be available. Cheques should be made payable to the Toronto Computer Lawyers’ Group.

REGISTRATION

REGISTER BEFORE 10:00 a.m., Monday, November 21, 2005.

REGISTRATIONS WILL NOT BE CONFIRMED UNLESS THE LUNCH IS FULLY BOOKED.

Cancellations also accepted before 9:00 a.m., Monday, November 21, 2005. Substitutions are permitted anytime. Registrants who do not attend and do not cancel or send a substitute may be invoiced for lunch.

PLEASE E-MAIL REGISTRATIONS OR CANCELLATIONS TO: secretarytclg@hotmail.com

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