Summary Trial Used To Effectively Dispose Of Copyright Infringement And Passing Off Action

In Ark Innovation Technology Inc. v. Matidor Technologies Inc., 2021 FC 1336 (Ark v. Matidor) Justice McHaffie recently found a BC software company and its founder liable for copyright infringement and passing off. A testament to the efficiencies arising from the summary trial process, the matter was commenced, heard, and determined in less than two years.

The plaintiff, Ark, makes "Arkit," a map-based project management software. After a falling out between the Ark co-founders, Mr. Lam resigned. He kept a copy of the Arkit source code and various marketing materials and proceeded to launch the "Matidor" software through his new company, Matidor. The Matidor software, by Mr. Lam's own admission, was "the Arkit code but rebranded as Matidor". Indeed, the Matidor code contained 98% of the same lines of Arkit code, and 998 of the 1007 photos were identical. Matidor also prepared marketing materials for the Matidor software, which were simply copies of Arkit marketing