For more than a decade one of the world’s most recognized emblems – the red cross on a white background – has been shared amicably between the commercial giant health care company, Johnson & Johnson (J&J), and the non-profit help organization, American Red Cross (ARC). J&J has used the symbol on its commercial products and […]
With respect to software sales, IBM has consistently played second fiddle (perhaps, eightieth!) to Microsoft. IBM has not only had to compete with big players like Microsoft, but also against the “open source community”. This is a community which is often seen as the product of cooperation and purity in technology. Its proponents point to […]
AllofMP3, a music-download site, announced that it will reopen after a Russian court acquitted the site’s former owner of violating IP law. The site was originally forced to close following pressure from the US administration over Russia’s poor protection of IP rights. This case immediately reminds me of the controversial Napster site which was forced […]
Intuitively it feels strange to ask whether consumers have a legal right to unlock iPhones, their own personal property. We don’t ask whether someone has a right to change Internet providers while keeping the same computer. Yet Apple and AT&T are trying to convince the American public that there is something wrong with unlocking the […]
The YouTube phenomenon has swept the Internet in a relatively short period of time, but with this popularity has also come an onslaught of copyright infringement litigation. The most significant of this litigation is the1 billion-dollar lawsuit initiated by Viacom in March 2007. Since then, a number of other major media companies and publishers have […]
In August 2007, an unnamed 16 year old from Aix-en-Provence, France, was arrested, detained, and subsequently released for posting his own unauthorised French translation of The Deathly Hallows (the seventh and last chapter in the lucrative Harry Potter series). The book was released at midnight on July 21, and the teen translated the 784 pages […]
Information is a very powerful thing. Indeed, in the mind of Canadian activist Cory Doctorow it would seem as though it is perhaps the most dangerous weapon of all. Speaking to the Associated Press, he compares the compilation of data by private companies such as Google to the acts of government entities who allegedly use […]
The lights dimmed. I settled into my seat. This was the world premiere of British film Boy A, screening one Sunday night at the Toronto International Film Festival. The standard TIFF advertisements for sponsors, etc. came and went. And then, a warning to would-be pirates: “Infrared and night-vision technology may be employed during this screening […]