According to a recent article in The Globe and Mail, a pilot project called The Best of B.C. Books Online will endeavour to make about 1000 non-fiction titles, both new and back catalogue, available as electronic books. This will be achieved by purchasing electronic rights to non-fiction books from B.C. publishers, and making them accessible […]
The WTO recently released its panel report on the US-China dispute over intellectual property rights. The panel found in the US’s favour on certain issues, with China winning out on others. Regardless of one’s views of the merits and politics of the dispute, it serves to highlight the difficult challenges faced in pursuing global intellectual […]
Alberto Musso is Full Professor of Intellectual Property Law and Competition Law and Deputy-Dean of the School of Law at the University of Bologna. He also teaches Copyright and Publishing Law in the Masters program directed by Prof. U. Eco. Professor Musso is a member of IP Osgoode’s international advisory council. Bologna-Rome: Zanichelli-Il foro italiano, 2008, […]
In 2007, Dan Heller, a freelance photographer, filed a proposal with the US Copyright Office. The proposal urged for the creation of a system of privately-run ‘Copyright Registrars’. The proposal describes a universal online system where a large number of private companies would be involved in the processing of copyright registration of original works. The […]
Tony Duarte (B.A., LL.B.) practices exclusively in the area of entertainment law and is an Adjunct Faculty member of Osgoode Hall Law School. Perhaps one of the most problematic rights clearance transactions for a producer of film or television production is the licensing of existing photos, film/video clips, or music to the producer for reuse […]
In a recent blog article, Kevin Kelly proposes that ownership is not as important as it once was and discusses the many benefits of renting, leasing, licensing and sharing compared to owning. Kelly discusses this notion both in the context of tangible goods and intangible goods. In the article, Kelly is extremely thorough about listing […]
Chris Castle is Managing Partner of Christian L. Castle Attorneys, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Google has reached a settlement of the “Google Books” case brought by the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers against Google and several of Google’s library business partners in the Google Books enterprise. (The 300-page settlement agreement has […]
Professor Abraham Drassinower (University of Toronto) has a new paper available on SSRN, “Canadian Originality: Remarks on a Judgment in Search of an Author“. Professor Drassinower describes his paper below. The standard of originality in Canadian copyright law has recently undergone significant transformation. Traditionally a jurisdiction that, in the eyes of many, had adopted a […]
Sara Grimes is a PhD Candidate with the School of Communication at Simon Fraser University. Digital games have evolved considerably in recent years, but from an IP perspective, one of the most interesting and significant shifts has been the introduction of user-generated content (UGC) into corporately-owned digital games and virtual worlds. Early evidence of the […]
In 2005, Apple publicly announced their transition from the IBM/Motorola PowerPC chipset to the Intel x86 chipset. In addition to the speed improvements, and efficiency gains (higher performance per watt) with the Intel processors, the transition also gave Mac users greater flexibility in the operating systems and programs that could be run without an x86 […]