The UK government has released a minimum standards document detailing codes of conduct to be implemented by all UK collecting societies. The document details collecting societies’ obligations to rights holders and licensees, and follows recommendations made in an independent report commissioned by Prime Minister David Cameron in 2010.
On September 24, 2012, the Copyright Board of Canada (the “Board”) began a two week public hearing for two proposed Re:Sound tariffs: Tariff 8.A (Simulcasting and Webcasting) and Tariff 8.B (Semi-Interactive Webcasting). This hearing has been highly anticipated since Pandora, a popular American webcaster and an objector participating in the hearing, exited the Canadian market […]
A Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (FIPA) between the People’s Republic of China and Canada is now in the final stages before ratification. FIPAs are designed to reduce the risk of foreign investment by establishing national obligations to foreign investors.
In a case that calls more for gold stars than gold doubloons, the government of Guyana and major British publishing houses have at last come to an agreement over textbook purchases—no copyright infringement necessary. This was the latest and hopefully final chapter of a plot in which the Guyanese government publicly called for tenders to provide pirated […]
IP Osgoode Speaker Series: "Reflections on the Supreme Court of Canada 2012 Copyright Decisions" Featuring Justice Marshall Rothstein of the Supreme Court of Canada "Advocacy Skills and IP: Observations from the Bench" Featuring Justice Roger T. Hughes of the Federal Court of Canada November 27 & 29 Osgoode Hall Law School, York University
On Friday November 1, 2012, the American University, Washington College of Law Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property (PIJIP) hosted the Inaugural Peter Jaszi Distinguished Lecture on Intellectual Property, featuring Christopher Sprigman, Professor at the University of Virginia Law School and co-author of the book The Knockoff Economy: How Imitation Sparks Innovation.
On November 8, 2012 the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) released its eagerly anticipated decision in the “Viagra Appeal”. In a unanimous decision written by Justice LeBel, the SCC found the patent at issue invalid for insufficient disclosure. This decision marks the end of a lengthy legal battle between Teva and Pfizer over the validity […]
Effective October 28, 2012, the US now has a new list of exceptions to its digital management circumvention laws in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (hereafter “DMCA”).
In the recent decision The Hebrew University of Jerusalem v. General Motors LLC, the US District Court of the Central District of California ruled that Albert Einstein’s publicity rights now belong to the public domain given that more than 50 years have passed since his death in 1955.
The Supreme Court has ruled on a case that began with nude student photos on a teacher’s work computer, but opened the larger question of an employee’s reasonable expectation of privacy when using office technology.