The current copyright statute in Ireland is the Copyright & Related Rights Act 2000. It was changed (a little) to bring Irish law into line with the EU Copyright Directive (2001), but not much has happened since. But following a promise in the coalition agreement after the 2011 general election, a Copyright Review Committee (chaired […]
The Copyright Modernization Act (Bill C-11) has generated much discussion on its merits and deficiencies. However, one issue that commentators have not discussed in depth is the relationship between laws and social norms. Specifically, whether any amendments to copyright law in Canada will have an effect on user behaviour given the social acceptability of copyright […]
Professor Ysolde Gendreau from the Faculty of Law at the University of Montreal wrote an interesting opinion piece for the Montreal Gazette last week. The piece canvasses the history of the Copyright Act, and draws an analogy between the current debate and a similar reform process that took place in the 1950s. In her article, […]
This past fall, I was lucky to have the opportunity to intern at Industry Canada in Ottawa as part of the Osgoode IP Law and Technology Intensive Program. Industry Canada is a federal department that works to make Canada’s industrial sectors more competitive in the world market by attracting investors and traders. The Department’s focus […]
It must have been really nice to have worked as an IP expert for the US Trade Representative (USTR) during the 1990s. Almost everything they proposed would become law. The global maximalist agenda had the large international institutions on its side. The golden age of international maximalism saw the creation of the WTO, the TRIPS […]
If the past month is any indication at all, 2012 is going to be an eventful year for intellectual property legislation, at least in the US and Canada. The controversy over the twin anti-digital piracy bills— the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), and the Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA)— has gained much attention, particularly because […]
Ben Farrow is a JD candidate at Osgoode Hall Law School. It was a big day in the copyright enforcement world today as US federal authorities moved to shut down website Megaupload. The crackdown included charges against seven people as well as the seizure of over 50 million dollars in assets. As the internet's most […]
Alysia Lau is a JD candidate at Osgoode Hall Law School who took part in the inaugural offering of the Intellectual Property Law and Technology Intensive Program (IP Intensive) in the Fall of 2011. As part of the course requirements, students were asked to write a blog on a topic of their choice. This past August, […]
Courtney Doagoo is a doctoral student at the University of Ottawa, Faculty of Law. On December 6 2011, the European Commission launched a public consultation to review the current regulatory regime surrounding “EU antitrust rules for the assessment of technology transfer agreements” for “patents, know-how and software licensing”. The aim of the public consultation is […]
Mekhala Chaubal is a JD candidate at Osgoode Hall Law School. Our very own Osgoode professors and feminist scholars, Rosemary Coombe and Carys Craig, presented a thought-provoking keynote entitled, “Copyright and the Moral Arts of Appropriation: Feminist and Postcolonial Perspectives”, at the Feminism and the Politics of Appropriation Conference hosted by the Women and Gender Studies […]