Canada

Law, Culture, Critique

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.

EU Moving Toward New Trade-Mark Regime

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) […]

New Book - The Copyright Pentalogy: How the Supreme Court of Canada Shook the Foundations of Canadian Copyright Law

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.

Game of Thones - Piracy is Coming

TorrentFreak has reported that the first episode of HBO’s Game of Thrones season three broke historic download records, with more than a million as of April 1st, 2013. Canada ranked fourth internationally in terms of the highest number of TorrentFreak S3E1 downloads, representing 7.4% of total downloads at the time of reporting.

Must Every Canadian Patent Application Include the Inventor’s Best Mode of Working the Invention?

It was thought until quite recently that any applicant for a Canadian patent had to disclose in his specification the best mode then known of working his invention (Minerals Separation North American Corp. v. Noranda Mines Ltd., [1947] Ex. C.R. 306, rev’d (1952) 69 R.P.C. 81 (P.C.)). Then came Sanofi-Aventis Canada Inc. v. Apotex Inc., […]

Commercialization Conference Videos

IP Osgoode and the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) would like to thank everyone who participated in our IP commercialization conference, entitled "Sparking Innovation With Students: Examining The Student Role From Invention To Commercialization". The conference examined the role of student researchers in commercializing IP and the different policies that have been adopted to provide for […]

The Bay Builds Upon a Masterpiece

Beymen, the leading fashion brand in Turkey, has offered upscale men’s clothing since 1971, more recently adding women’s wear and home collections to its lines.  But when it sought to register two of its design marks in Canada (possibly to herald its entry into the Canadian retail market), Beymen ran into serious issues with Canada’s […]

Reflecting On A Day Of Discussions Surrounding The Important Student Role From Invention To Commercialization

On March 22, 2013, IP Osgoode and the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) co-hosted a conference examining the role of student researchers in commercializing intellectual property. Inspired by her SSHRC-funded research, IP Osgoode's Professor Giuseppina D’Agostino, the conference chair, skillfully orchestrated an impressive line-up of guest speakers and panellists representing the full spectrum of key stakeholders […]

How Music Can Help You, And You Can Help Music – An Interview With Graham Henderson

I recently had the pleasure of sitting down with Graham Henderson, President of Music Canada, who will be inducted into the Canadian Music Industry Hall of Fame on Thursday, March 21 as part of Canadian Music Week 2013. In addition to representing record labels such as Sony, Universal and Warner, Music Canada’s role is to […]

The Living Daylights (…Scents, Tastes, and Sounds): Bill C-56 Forebodes Drastic Trade-mark Reform

Bill C-56, a new and inevitably controversial piece of proposed legislation, was introduced on March 1, 2013. With the short title, Combating Counterfeit Products Act, the message seems simple, but contained within it are extensive proposals to change both the Copyright Act and the Trade-marks Act in Canada.