Home » 2018 (Page 5)

Innovating with Yesterday’s Inventions: Repurposing Drugs for New Indications

Pharmaceutical research and development (R&D) has skyrocketed in recent years and is projected to reach even greater levels in the future. The total R&D spending has increased by 33 billion USD from 2005 to 2015 and is projected to rise by an additional 19 billion USD by 2020. Is there a way to cut these […]

Capitalizing on Tragedy? Redbubble.com Permits Sale of Humboldt Broncos Art

At first glance, art-marketplace websites like Redbubble and Society6—which print original designs uploaded by users on various consumer products—seem like ideal platforms for an artist to make some extra cash. However, a recent piece of artwork honouring the Humboldt Broncos, uploaded to Redbubble by a non-artist, raises moral and copyright issues with the commercial validity […]

Risks in AI Over the Collection and Transmission of Data

While the daily lives for us ordinary people are made more convenient and more pleasant by the application of various Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools – ranging from the widely known consumer products such as home assistant Siri and personal medical devices to other business applications of natural language processing or deep learning, we should gradually […]

Art from Fragments: A Legal Framework for the Growth of Canadian Hip-Hop and Digital Sampling

Digital audio sampling—a music production technique whereby sound-clips are extracted from songs and incorporated into new tracks via computer software—is a staple of hip-hop music. With the increased accessibility of Canadian music via apps like Spotify, coupled with the growing Canadian hip-hop music scene, there is great potential for the usage of Canadian musical samples […]

A Recipe for Protection - A look at trademarks in the restaurant industry

There’s no denying that the restaurant business is a primary gateway to the workforce for many, with well over 1.2 million Canadians being employed through this $80 billion industry. While the quality of a restaurant’s food is integral to the restaurant’s financial success, the strategic use of intellectual property (IP), particularly trademarks, can give a […]

Nothing to Turn Your Nose up at: Playdoh and the dawn of scent trademarks

On Friday, May 19th, Hasbro announced that the characteristic scent of their well-known Play-Doh product has been officially recognized by the United States Patent and Trademark Office as a registered trademark of the brand. This presents a major step forward in the evolution of “scent trademarks”, with Hasbro being by far the largest corporation to […]

The Right to Be Forgotten and the Canadian Landscape

In May 2014, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) upheld the so-called “right to be forgotten” in a privacy test case brought forward by a Spanish lawyer against Google. In its ruling, the court granted EU citizens the right to ask search engines, such as Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft Bing, to remove links […]

The Right to Forget and not Forget in Spain

On May 13, 2014, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) issued a landmark decision that allows EU citizens the “right to be forgotten” – basically, the right to withdraw consent over the processing of an individual’s personal information. Under that ruling, individuals have the right to ask Google and other search engines […]