Competition Law
IP Year in Review 2017 – A Year of Promises Made, Kept, and Abandoned
This past year marks a year where the Government of Canada engaged more than ever on the IP front. The Government of Canada’s announcement of a National IP Strategy was welcome news for those interested in leveraging Canada’s intangible capital. As I noted on The Agenda with Steve Paikin, it was a “hallelujah” moment for […]
SEPs and the Swinging Pendulum
American IP scholar Mark Lemley aptly characterized the dynamic relationship between IP and competition law as a swinging pendulum, in which antitrust enforcement of IP has cycled from under-protection to over-protection since the enactment of the Sherman Act in 1890. The United States Supreme Court’s recent affirmation of antitrust scrutiny in patent litigation indicated that […]
Certainly Commendable but Perhaps not Practical – Canada’s Competition Bureau Releases Guidelines on Pharmaceutical Patent Litigation Settlements
On September 23, Canada’s Competition Bureau (“the Bureau”) announced landmark guidelines regarding the consideration of pharmaceutical patent litigation settlements under Canada’s competition law framework. The Bureau’s guidelines on this issue were released as part of a white paper titled Patent Litigation Settlement Agreements: A Canadian Perspective. These settlement agreements attract concern from competition regulators due […]
N-C-Double Don’t: Student-Athletes’ Likenesses No Longer Free for Use
A landmark ruling on Friday August 8, 2014 determined that the National Collegiate Athletic Association (the “NCAA”) can no longer stop its athletes from selling the rights to their own names, likenesses, and images. As such, major college student-athletes in men’s football and basketball could walk away from their locker rooms with gym bags full of […]
Alice Corp., Software Patents, and Lighting the Rabbit Hole of Abstract Ideas
It’s often hard to recognize the evolving nature of legal regimes amidst the fast-paced and so-called revolutionary social and technological changes facilitated by digital and networked technologies. Laws, norms, and conventions developed over centuries are being problematized and rethought as new social, technological, and economic realities emerge. Computer software, a technology that’s mainstream adoption is […]
Parody in Trade-mark Law – “Dumb Starbucks” Might Not Be So Dumb After All
Nathan Fielder created quite an uproar when he opened up an establishment in Los Feliz, California named “Dumb Starbucks.” According to its FAQ sheet, the store claimed to legally operate under US parody laws.
Beer, Reform, and Policy: A Pint of Chinese Trade-mark Law
If you want to order a Heineken in China, just ask the bartender for a “喜力啤酒” (pronounced “see lee pee jow”). The second word-pair, “啤酒”(“pee jow”), simply means “beer” and can be ubiquitously used to order beer in China. But the first word-pair, “喜力” (“see lee”), is the trade name chosen by Heineken to represent […]