Patent law can be a polarizing topic, but it is especially so during international trade negotiations. Perhaps this is because the principles of patent law create fundamental conflicts between those that own patents and those that pay for patents. Despite this divide, these negotiations, along with some international diplomacy, often produce patent chapters that fall […]
As the new Liberal government turns its mind to the application of substantive policies, it will have to decide what to do with the Canadian orphan drug regulatory framework (ODRF) that has been in development. This framework, based in large part on the example of the United States Orphan Drug Act (US ODA), which has […]
Recent developments in the ongoing trademark dispute involving Asian American dance rock band "The Slants" have reignited discussion regarding disparaging marks and free speech. Last month the band argued before a U.S. appeals court that the government’s rejection of its trademark application pursuant to "the provision in the Lanham Act that bars disparaging trademarks violates the First Amendment and should be […]
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 […]
In my previous post, I detailed how a single digital spin of a song can trigger multiple webcasting tariffs. I also mentioned that royalties are not always paid wholly and directly to a single “creator” of music, but rather distributed on a percentage basis, depending on the various roles in the creation of the musical recording. […]
IP Osgoode would like to thank everyone who attended The Honourable Mr. Justice Marshall Rothstein's lecture regarding intellectual property related cases and their impacts on November 24, 2014 at Osgoode Hall Law School. The video of the lecture is available here.
Knockoffs run rampant in the retail and fashion industries. For those of us that are fashion-forward but not looking to incur debilitating debt, we resign ourselves to settling for the closest lookalike. But while these products may save us some money, it is usually at the expense of designers from whose unique and original work […]
With echoes of the blockbuster Apple v Samsung case (see past IPilogue coverage here, here and here), The United States International Trade Commission (ITC) announced on Oct 6th that it will move ahead with a section 337 investigation into patent infringement claims made against Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd by NVIDIA Corp. The plaintiff alleges infringement of seven of its patents. This claim could potentially […]
IP Osgoode and the Intellectual Property Institute of Canada (IPIC) are thrilled to announce the winner of the sixth annual edition of Canada’s IP Writing Challenge:
On October 17, 2014, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit issued its decision in Cambridge University Press et al. v. Patton et al. The case is about the posting of excerpts from copyright-protected works on a university’s e-reserve and course management systems.