Marie-Denise Vane Articling Student

Marie-Denise Vane Articling Student

Bureau

  • Montréal

Phone number

514 878-5574

Languages

  • English
  • French

Profile

Articling Student

Marie-Denise Vane joined the Lavery team as a student in the summer of 2021, and is currently articling with the firm. She graduated in law from McGill University and also obtained a Master in intellectual property law from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

During her law studies, Marie-Denise completed an internship with a judge of the Superior Court of Quebec and with the Montreal | Laval legal aid office in immigration law. She has also worked as a research assistant, notably for the McGill Centre for Human Rights and Legal Pluralism. In addition, she has participated in the International Human Rights Internship Program of her Faculty. She then worked for the Legal Services Board of Nunavut, in family law and child protection, and in criminal law.

On the strength of these experiences, Marie-Denise has a great interest for litigation. She successfully participated in the Laskin moot court competition in administrative and constitutional law. Among others, she won third place as best oralist, as well as best school and best pair of litigants with her teammates. Throughout law school, she has also acted as a mentor for CEGEP students for the CSQ-Juripop moot court competition, in which she had participated herself.

Publications

  • Alain Y. Dussault and Marie-Denise Vane, “Grey market in Canada, the Court of Appeal adds a few shades” [title translated from French], in Barreau du Québec, Service de la formation continue, Développements récents en droit de la propriété intellectuelle (2021), vol 501, Montreal (QC), Éditions Yvon Blais, 2021, 205 (also available online through the CAIJ website).

Professional and community activities

  • Pro Bono Students Canada, 2018–present, Volunteer
  • Mobile Legal Clinic, 2019–2020, Volunteer

Education

  • LL.M., Master of Laws, London School of Economics and Political Science
  • B.C.L./J.D., joint degree in Civil Law and Common Law, McGill University

Boards and Professional Affiliations

  • Forward Movements company, 2023–present, Member of the Board of directors
  • Law Needs Feminism Because – McGill Chapter, 2018–2021, Co-Coordinator
  1. The duration of copyright protection in Canada is extended to 70 years as of December 30, 2022

    On June 23, 2022, Bill C-19 received Royal Assent. The bill was introduced by the Honourable Chrystia Freeland, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, and resulted in amendments to the Copyright Act1 that will come into force on December 30, 2022, further to an order in council issued earlier this week. Bill C-19, or An Act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on April 7, 2022, and other measures, was tabled on April 28, 2022, by the federal government following the release of the 2022 budget. This bill essentially follows up on the commitments the government made in its annual budget. In the 2022 budget, the federal government said it wanted to make changes to the Copyright Act. It announced a legislative amendment to meet its obligation under the Canada-United-States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) to extend the general term of copyright protection from 50 years to 70 years after the death of the author. Like the United States and Mexico, Canada has committed to a copyright protection term that is not less than the life of the author, plus 70 years following the natural person’s death.   Section 6 of the Copyright Act currently stipulates that copyright protection lasts for the author’s lifetime and an additional 50 years after their death. The section will now read as follows: Except as otherwise expressly provided by this Act, the term for which copyright subsists is the life of the author, the remainder of the calendar year in which the author dies, and a period of 70 years following the end of that calendar year. [emphasis added]. The term of copyright is also extended to 70 years after the death of the author or the last surviving co-author in the case of posthumous works and collaborations. Finally, Bill C-19 clarifies that legislative amendments to the Copyright Act do not reactivate copyrights that expired before the effective date of the amendments. [1] RSC 1985, c C-42.

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