Just days ago, a U.S. court made a decision that has reinforced the strength of “fair use”. From the EFF: “A judge’s ruling today is a major victory for free speech and fair use on the Internet, and will help protect everyone who creates content for the Web. In Lenz v. Universal (aka the ‘dancing […]
Today the Conference Board of Canada gave Canada another “D” grade for innovation. As indicated on the Board website, Canada is at the back of the class. As last year, where Canada also got a “D” grade, this should be another alarming call to government, industry, and members of the public that we need to do our homework. […]
“Not all Sides represented in the debate on copyright bill” was published in the Toronto Star, June 19, AA8. The long-awaited copyright bill is about much more than copying music onto iPods or throwing kids in jail (and, no, the bill doesn’t endorse this, contrary to sensationalized beliefs). The bill is important and affects us […]
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 […]
The Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) is a comprehensive multilateral agreement setting minimum uniform standards of IP protection and enforcement in all WTO Member States.[1] Its provisions require a substantive degree of IP protection for all members, including a twenty year term of protection[2] that confers the exclusive right to prevent third parties […]
The notion of originality in copyright seems to reinforce an outdated assumption of author as a singular creator. Today, there are a plethora of cases that defy this notion. Most notably is act of collaboration and collective production. The notion of collective production is clearly illustrated in the example of current mainstream popular music production. […]
On January 28th, 2008, the Iraqi Ministry of Culture and the IZDIHAR Project co-hosted Iraq’s first Iraqi Copyright Awareness Conference. While it was awarded minimal media coverage, the rare congregation of authors, creators, painters, innovators and government representatives exemplified the manner in which the political and social landscape is shifting in post-Saddam Iraq. The conference […]
I recently attended a lecture by professor Bruce Ziff, of the University of Alberta Law School, where he described what he termed as his only original academic idea. He posited that the reason we as a society are so restrictive about property rights is because it is basically impossible to extinguish property rights that have […]
In two months’ time, the estate of Jerry Siegel, co-creator of Superman, will finally take Time-Warner Communications (via its subsidiary, DC Comics) to trial over ownership of copyright. Siegel (along with artist Joe Shuster) created Superman in 1928, and DC Comics currently owns the rights. Of course, it’s not that simple. Last year, the Siegel […]
I’m going to show you how to be a millionaire. First, draw a line on a piece of paper. Great. You have just created a one-dimensional world. In this world, people can only move linearly since there are no ‘sides.’ So, they can’t see you even when you are next to them. Now add three […]