The recent turmoil in Parliament has led to a buzz among many ordinary Canadians. But out of the push for a new coalition government, largely unprecedented in Canadian history, has immediately come more of the same: political bickering and inaction. One week ago, upon request from Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Governor General Michaëlle Jean prorogued […]
Last Thursday, the European Court of Human Rights made an important ruling on the privacy of a person’s unique genetic information. The European Court, citing a Supreme Court of Canada decision with approval, determined that it was an illegal violation of a person’s rights to keep a person’s DNA sample when they had no prior […]
While parody is a well-established defence to copyright infringement in the U.S, a recent B.C. Supreme Court decision says that this is not the case in Canada. On November 24, in a judgment on a motion to strike portions of the Statement of Defence, the B.C. Supreme Court Master ruled that parody could not be […]
The process to harvest human embryonic stem cells (hESC) may be old news in the scientific community; however, the issues raised by this area of science continue to be debated in law and politics. The moral and social arguments for and against embryonic stem cell research are well documented. Proponents argue that stem cells, derived […]
Recent Trends in the Economics of Copyright Edited by Ruth Towse and Richard Watt The book is part of an Elgar Publishing series, Recent Trends, and I was commissioned to edit this one on the Economics of Copyright. At the time, I was about to spend time in New Zealand with my friend and colleague from […]
In a recently released report by the Intellectual Property Institute (IPI) in London, Dr. Roya Ghafele takes a unique approach in synthesizing the many existing viewpoints in the multi-faceted arena of IP public policy debate. In an age where these debates are becoming ever more complex and heated, her accessible and balanced summary is useful […]
Lori Drew has been found guilty by a jury in a Federal Circuit Court in California of unauthorized access to a computer system in contravention of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, 18 U.S.C. § 1030. The charges were laid after Ms. Drew set up a fake MySpace account posing as a 16 year old […]
Ever since the inception of YouTube, people have been extremely creative in finding applications of this user-friendly platform. Owing to its profound integration into our daily lives, its uses have emerged beyond the realm of entertainment. Today, YouTube is being used for everything from uploading user generated videos for sharing with family and friends, to […]
According to a recent decision by a WIPO arbitration panel, an original manufacturer may not have an infringement complaint when an unauthorized dealer’s domain name contains the manufacturer’s trademark. Although there has been some criticism of the ruling, the decision appears to provide a balanced result. This high-impact ruling was a result of a complaint brought […]
Adrian Scotchmer is the Editor-in-Chief of the Osgoode Hall Review of Law and Policy. The latest issue of the Osgoode Hall Review of Law and Policy, released November 24, 2008, may be of interest to readers of IP Osgoode as it contains three papers regarding copyright law. Recent debate with respect to copyright law has assumed […]