When I was first assigned to The Globe and Mail (“The Globe”) for a ten-week internship placement through Osgoode’s Intellectual Property and Technology Intensive, I assumed that this role would be copyright-centric. Copyright is critical in driving not just the news publishing industry, but the publishing industry at large. As Canada’s foremost news media company, I imagined the legal team at The Globe would consistently grapple with copyright issues, notably copyright infringement, litigation, and ownership issues. However, working with its three-person in-house counsel team taught me that, while intellectual property is still a critical aspect of The Globe’s business, the legal implications of digital news publishing go far beyond copyright.
Regulatory compliance stood out as an overarching theme within my practical and research work. A major difficulty for national organizations like The Globe is ensuring its practices and operations align with all provincial and territorial legislation. This can be especially complicated when conducting business in Quebec, whose consumer protection and privacy legislation are significantly more stringent compared to other provincial and territorial counterparts. There are lawyers in private practice dedicated solely to Quebec compliance, so it can be a challenge for in-house counsel to navigate these difficult schemes, especially when this involves navigating all provincial and territorial regimes. This was my first exposure to compliance within a national organization, as most of my law school studies focused on either federal legislation, notably intellectual property legislation, or Ontario-based legislation.
As someone with a strong interest in intellectual property, I wanted significant exposure to copyright work. The Globe monitors the use of its copyrighted material online, and I helped draft notices of copyright infringement to Web pages reproducing The Globe’s content without authorization. My research work also focused on the copyright implications of generative artificial intelligence (AI), a rapidly emerging field that has the potential to revolutionize the publishing industry, including areas like content creation and advertising. The Globe provides to its content providers on acceptable uses of AI in its publishing, including that AI programs such as ChatGPT should be used as a tool in the same way that Wikipedia is used, given that ChatGPT’s success rate is still below 100%. AI programs cannot produce writing for publication, as this could alter whether copyright subsists in the work. With the everchanging landscape of AI and a likely intervention from Parliament on the copyright issues surrounding generative AI, it will be interesting to see its impact on the digital publishing industry, and particularly The Globe, in the coming years.
After spending the past two summers at an intellectual property boutique firm, I looked forward to seeing the practical application of the law within a business, and especially within an esteemed business like The Globe. The Globe’s business structure afforded me the unique opportunity to work with both the Legal and Procurement teams, providing a unique blend of business and legal perspectives. Working under the supervision of John Forshaw, Legal Counsel, I also collaborated with Sophia Javed, Associate General Counsel and Richa Gupta, Senior Sourcing and Contract Analyst. Alongside Richa and the rest of the Procurement team, my focus was contract management, whether it was contract drafting, renewals, or terminations. Wrongly, I assumed contract management would fall exclusively to the Legal team. Contracts are traditionally considered to be the seminal legal document, though it is the operational aspects of contracts (e.g., price, term, services, etc.) which matter most to a business. It is the role of the business team to curate such purpose-driven contracts, and, while the Legal team may be involved in drafting and will likely review the final document, the business team drives contract management.
This placement with The Globe’s in-house Legal Team was an invaluable experience, providing me with practical skills and knowledge that will extend into my future private practice position. I want to thank my supervisors at The Globe, John, Sophia and Richa, who encouraged me and provided guidance on all the questions I had about work or their professional lives, making this experience even more worthwhile. A sincere gratitude is also owed to Professor D’Agostino, Professor Vaver, and Joseph Turcotte for their commitment to the IP Intensive, as this experience was a true highlight of my law school career.
Katie Graham is an Associate at Cassels (as of September 2025). This article was submitted as a requirement for Prof. Pina D’Agostino’s IP Intensive Program.