At first, a request for royalties by the estate of Nazi propagandist Goebbels was considered a joke by counsel for Random House. But the publisher now finds itself in the middle of a legal controversy after releasing a biography about the notorious World War 2 Nazi, which largely draws from Goebbels’s diaries.
United States Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan is a fan of comics. If you had not already read that in her bio at SCOTUS-tracking blog Supreme Court Review, you might have inferred it from the Spiderman references she included in her Kimble v. Marvel ("Kimble") decision. She even supported her final decision, declining to overturn the limits […]
Etsy describes itself as a "marketplace where people around the world connect, both online and offline, to make, sell and buy unique goods." For a site based on creativity and uniqueness, they have a surprisingly long history of high profile disputes between Etsy sellers and intellectual property owners. Among a myriad of other incidents, sellers have reportedly […]
The prince of appropriation strikes again! Visual artist Richard Prince caused a major uproar in the art world with his latest exhibition, New Portraits. The series of photographs, which features enlarged screenshots of Instagram posts made by different users, has been the object of controversy after it was reportedly found that Prince never asked for […]
The times they are a hopefully changing for the Copyright Board of Canada. Over a year ago, Justice William Vancise stepped down after serving his maximum two terms as chair. On June 3rd, the Board issued a press release stating that Industry Minister James Moore had finally announced the appointment of Justice Robert A. Blair as Chair, effective immediately. […]
On the heels of oral arguments heard before the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) in CBC v SODRAC, the Toronto Intellectual Property Group hosted a fascinating event centered on the principle of technological neutrality from ESA v SOCAN, and how it might be interpreted by the SCC when the case is decided.
In the words of Taylor Swift, Joss Whedon is probably singing: "Are we out of the woods yet?" On April 13th, author Peter Gallagher (no, not the actor known for playing a cool dad on The O.C.) hit Whedon – director and producer of The Avengers and Buffy the Vampire Slayer – with a massive copyright […]
Compound interest ought to be the rule rather than the exception in calculating prejudgment interest in litigation involving commercial businesses. It is welcoming to see recognition and expansion of this concept in patent litigation.
Video streaming, we all do it (or have done it at some point). It’s difficult not to in this day and age when entertainment is so easily transportable and amenable to on-the-go enjoyment, the stationary television becoming less and less the platform for watching our favourite movies and shows. Some of us have engaged in […]
On March 16, 2015, Justice Barnes held that AstraZeneca’s Patent No 1,292,693 (“’693 Patent”), a formulation patent for omeprazole, was valid and infringed by Apotex (2015 FC 322). This decision represents the latest entry in the 22-year old cross-jurisdictional Omeprazole saga between AstraZeneca and Apotex. Because the proceedings were bifurcated, a separate reference for damage […]