On October 13, President Bush signed a controversial bill that makes some important modifications to the existing American copyright and trademark regimes. The Prioritizing Resources and Organization for Intellectual Property (PRO-IP) Act toughens civil penalties for movie and music piracy and beefs up criminal sanctions for counterfeiters. Additionally, the bill creates a new office called the ‘International […]
After years of waiting, Canadian legislation designed to encourage shipments of low-cost HIV/AIDS drugs to developing countries has finally been put to use. Unfortunately, the delay has only served to highlight some of the problems with the initiative. The shipment of 7 million tablets was sent to Rwanda on September 24 using Canada’s Access to […]
The famous company Apple Inc is ready to take a ‘bite' at Victoria School of Business and Technology. The dispute ‘centers around a piece of fruit'. The ‘apple' could be one of the most litigated issues in history. The story begins in 1978 when Apple Corps, a recording company owned by The Beatles filed a […]
With another federal election and $300 million in the books, Canadians are left with parliament in similar shape as it was before. The popular perception of a stagnant government may have given more reason to push some citizens to go that extra step to shape a desired outcome, and to try to influence the votes […]
Lawrence Lessig, copyright activist and founder of Creative Commons, is promoting his new book “Remix”. In a recent Wall Street Journal column, he raises a number of criticisms of copyright law and suggests several reforms. One criticism focuses on YouTube and amateur videos that incorporate elements from copyrighted works. Lessig attempts to make his point […]
At the dawn of the internet, user privacy was not a concern. The internet consisted of a few bulletin boards, chat groups and static web pages. Most of the public was not using the internet, very little personal information was being exchanged, and it was seldom attached to a real person's identity. From those early […]
On September 8, 2008, a New York federal court ruled that Steven Vander Ark is permanently enjoined from publishing his ‘Harry Potter Lexicon’. The Lexicon is an A to Z encyclopedia that consists of 2437 entries. The entries describe the creatures, characters, objects, events and places that exist in the world of Harry Potter. The […]
Last month, the SCC refused leave to appeal from the FCA’s decision in Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association v. SOCAN. The FCA had undertaken the judicial review of a tariff decision by the Copyright Board. The tariff covered the communication of musical works, in the form of cell phone ringtones, from suppliers to subscribers. At issue […]
I am delighted to be returning to Osgoode as Professor of Intellectual Property Law after a decade at the University of Oxford as the Reuters Professor of Intellectual Property & Information Technology Law and Director of the Oxford Intellectual Property Research Centre. The draw was Osgoode's establishment of a program devoted to research in IP […]
The New Zealand government has taken a novel approach to try to fix what seems to be a nagging problem for governments in today’s connected world: peer-to-peer file-sharing. On Oct. 3, Associate Commerce Minister Judith Tizard announced that recent copyright amendments will come into force, including a provision (92A) that requires internet service providers to […]