Lawrence Lessig, copyright activist and founder of Creative Commons, is promoting his new book “Remix”. In a recent Wall Street Journal column, he raises a number of criticisms of copyright law and suggests several reforms. One criticism focuses on YouTube and amateur videos that incorporate elements from copyrighted works. Lessig attempts to make his point […]
I am delighted to be returning to Osgoode as Professor of Intellectual Property Law after a decade at the University of Oxford as the Reuters Professor of Intellectual Property & Information Technology Law and Director of the Oxford Intellectual Property Research Centre. The draw was Osgoode’s establishment of a program devoted to research in IP […]
The definition of the boundaries of art, and the privileges of the people who produce ever-evolving art forms, have historically been contentious issues among the general public, however, household and classroom debates typically remained outside of the realm of copyrights. A recent article from the National Post spoke of a case where a photographer of graffiti […]
With the proliferation of open source web collaboration tools such as SourceForge, Wikipedia, and blogs, important concerns have been raised regarding a tool users’ ability to restrict the content they create. At the heart of the debate is whether a work, released for free public use, can still have restrictions attached via an open source […]
On June 12, 2008 the Ministers of Industry Canada and Canadian Heritage tabled Bill C-61 in Parliament. The Bill is expected to go to Second Reading at some point in the Fall at which stage will go to committee for review. You can find the Bill at: http://www2.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?Docid=3570473&file=4 Since the Bill’s debut, copyright has been the […]
There are rumours that a new copyright bill is imminent. Copyright issues are increasingly gaining public prominence and there are views of every stripe. See below for a distinct view by Barry Sookman, copyright expert and co-chair of the Technology Group at McCarthy Tétrault, on the copyright debate as we await the new legislation and continue […]