As discussed by Anna in her post yesterday, fair dealing under Canadian law works as follows: a user is allowed a limited use of a copyrighted material without needing to get permission from the rights holder in specific circumstances; for the purpose of research or private study, criticism or review and for the purposes of news […]
There is a growing concern among media companies that news aggregation websites (NAWs) are taking large portions of original content, ‘shaving away potential readers and profiting from the content’ without properly compensating the media companies that provide the original content. According to the Canadian Copyright Act, such taking of original content is allowed as long as […]
Over an eleven day period ending last Wednesday, three lay judges and one professional judge presided over the most closely followed and polarized trials in recent Swedish history. In their hands lies the fate of the Pirate Bay – the ever-popular BitTorrent website. With the court’s judgment due in April, file-sharers and copyright holders all […]
Daniel Pearlman is a first year law student at Osgoode Hall and is taking the Legal Values: Challenges in Intellectual Property course Movie piracy is a widely debated IP issue. While many would agree that movie piracy is a problem, much controversy surrounds both the extent of movie piracy, and how it ought to be […]
Denis Barbosa is a Brazilian lawyer and Law Professor. He is Professor of Intellectual Property Law at the Graduate Division of the Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, and also at a number of other graduate programs in law schools elsewhere in the country. Professor Barbosa is a member of IP Osgoode’s international advisory council. […]
The paperless office is yet to arrive, but that hasn’t stopped companies from introducing innovative ways of consuming written materials. One such attempt is Amazon.com’s e-book, called ‘Kindle’. When first released in late 2007, I looked at how purchasers of content for the device may be limited in their ability to re-sell their copy of […]
Michael Kostiuk is a first year law student at Osgoode Hall and is taking the Legal Values: Challenges in Intellectual Property course Adherents to rights-based theory have long posited that a creator possesses an inherent and inalienable initial right to her respective creation. After all, with no possessory rights, why would anyone create at all? […]
Brian Higgins is a first year law student at Osgoode Hall and is taking the Legal Values: Challenges in Intellectual Property course. David Lametti’s 2001 article, “Publish and Profit?: Justifying the Ownership of Copyright in the Academic Setting”, details the intricacies of copyright ownership in a university setting ((2001), 26 Queen’s L.J. 497 – 567). […]
The recent situation concerning the Haka Ka Mate traditional dance is demonstrative that intellectual property law as it now stands, does not always provide the best fit. The Haka Ka Mate is a traditional dance that was composed by the Te Rauparaha of Ngati Toa to commemorate his escape from death. However, it is now […]
Recently Shepard Fairey, the creator of the famous Obama poster, filed a lawsuit in the U.S. against the Associated Press [AP]. Fairey is asking the federal court to declare that his poster did not infringe the copyright of AP’s photograph. AP claimed ownership of the image appearing on the poster. The image closely resembles a photograph taken […]