There have been many high profile court cases of patent infringement in the past year, culminating in a headline-topping $1 billion award for Apple against Samsung. Even with massive awards like this, at the end of the day, has the patent system produced a net benefit for Apple and the smartphone industry as a whole?
The re-posting of this analysis is part of a cross-posting collaboration with MediaLaws: Law and Policy of the Media in a Comparative Perspective.
On May 10, 2013, York University’s Osgoode Hall Law School Graduate Law Student Association (GLSA) held a two day Graduate Student Law Conference at the Oakham House at Ryerson University in downtown Toronto.
The European Commission has proposed amendments to the Community Trade Mark (CTM) Regulation and Trade Marks Directive. The primary function is to harmonize EU member trade-mark laws. This bureaucratic hygiene aim – which resulted in a mixture of trade-mark rights expansion and contraction – stands in contrast to the current, controversial and (in my opinion) […]
Earlier this month, the United States Trade Representative (USTR) released its annual “Special 301 Report,” which evaluates the intellectual property rights (IPR) protection and enforcement of its trading partners. Over the last few years, Canada has been listed on the “Priority Watch List”, which is reserved for countries that have the most deficient IP protection […]
During the celebration of World Intellectual Property Day on April 24, 2013, the US Committee on the Judiciary announced its intention to promote a comprehensive review of US copyright law in order to modernize copyright protection in the US.
There are just under two weeks left to submit your entry to our 5th annual Writing Challenge. The winner from each category will receive a prize of $1000 (CAD), publication on the IP Osgoode website, and consideration for publication in the Canadian Intellectual Property Review and/or the Intellectual Property Journal. The deadline to submit is […]
This paper traces the emergence of a new res or object of protection within European trade mark law. Proprietary rights in trade marks have conventionally been premised upon the mark’s ability to communicate useful information; namely, indicating the commercial source of goods or services, also referred to as the essential function of a trade mark.
If at first you don’t succeed, Viacom, try try again? On April 18, 2013, Judge Louise Stanton of the 2nd Circuit District Court effectively wrote the last chapter in the epic one billion dollar copyright battle between Viacom and YouTube.
In the summer of 2012, the Supreme Court of Canada issued a series of rulings in five major copyright cases (referred to as the “copyright pentalogy”). A new book has just been released that examines the possible long-term impact of these decisions.