Recent litigation has shown that misunderstandings relating to the nature of the online public domain are facilitating an increase in online illegal activity. The root of this problem is the presumption that uploading information to the internet makes it part of the ‘public domain’ where ‘ownership’ automatically ceases to exist. If this were unequivocally true, […]
When Steven Harper called a federal election on September 7th he effectively killed all bills progressing through parliament. Bill C-61, containing controversial changes to the Copyright Act, was amongst the casualties. While there is widespread support for remodeling the Copyright Act the direction taken by the Conservatives was not so popular. The government’s heavy emphasis […]
Although the merchandise that the jewellery giant Tiffany & Co. creates tends to sparkle and shine, its recent legal decision to appeal the U.S. federal court’s decision regarding its case against eBay appears much duller in comparison. I am referring to the appeal of that court’s verdict that held that eBay was not under further […]
Issue 1: Search Engines Selling Ad Space For Keywords That Happen To Be Trademarked Brands Search engines, including Google, commonly sell Internet ad space on searches that are particular to the keywords used in the search. When the keyword is an actual trademarked brand, a competitor to that brand may purchase the ad space to that […]
Free downloading, via the Internet, is no longer a secret and has become commonplace, resulting in immense profit losses and copyright infringements. Established torrent websites and shareware programs, operating without license or authorization, knowingly allow full copies of musical work to be downloaded. These unfortunate circumstances resulted in Jim Griffin, consultant for the music label […]
Deliberate betrayal…a family torn apart in a quest for what is believed to be rightfully theirs. Although it sounds like a teaser for one of John Steinbeck’s classic novels, the drama that unfolded in a New York courtroom in late August was straight out of the pages of the Steinbeck family feud. On August 13, […]
Nearly half a million active “Scrabulous” users were surprised to find that their favorite Facebook application had been pulled from the social networking website. Perhaps even more surprising was that less than two days later, the application resurfaced with a slightly modified exterior under the name “Wordscraper.” One of Facebook’s most popular applications, the game’s […]
In making what has been dubbed as an “unprecedented ruling,”[1] a New Zealand Judge banned the publication of the names of two men charged with murder on internet-based news sites. By allowing the names to be published in print, radio and television platforms, Judge David Harvey distinguishing between the internet and the aforementioned media based […]
The US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has begun to adopt a more strict stance towards software patents. The USPTO, while not having yet called for the elimination of software patents, has certainly moved to restrict them. In doing so, the USPTO appears to have aligned itself with the US Supreme Court on the issue, […]
“The fundamental purpose of trademark law, in the bricks-and-mortar world and on the Internet, is to protect consumers from being confused as to the source or affiliation of the products or services that they seek to buy”, announced American Airlines in American Airlines, Inc. v. Google, Inc. in August 2007. The airline brought the lawsuit […]