Canada
IP Osgoode and Osgoode Hall Law School host intellectual property symposium in honour of Osgoode Prof. David Vaver, "Intellectual Property: Fuel for the Fire of Genius or Shelf Life of a Banana?"
Re-posted below is a media release from York University. TORONTO, Thursday, Nov. 16, 2017 – For nearly 40 years, Professor David Vaver has been a guiding force in the Canadian intellectual property (IP) landscape. On Monday, Nov. 20, IP Osgoode and Osgoode Hall Law School at York University will host a special symposium in honour […]
Connecting Canadians, Empowering Inclusive Innovation
Innovation is, once again, a topic of great concern for Canadian policy makers and the commentariat. And for good reason. Yet, at a time when (mainly foreign) companies – notably Alphabet (Google), Apple, Tesla, Amazon, and Facebook – are lauded as being the ‘world’s most innovative’ (for example, see FastCompany and the Boston Consulting Group) […]
Money Talk(s) and Competition Conflict: The CTS17 Regulatory Blockbuster
Earlier this month, I attended the 2017 Canadian Telecom Summit and covered the Regulatory Blockbuster panel. The Regulatory Blockbuster is an annual event where regulatory representatives from telecom companies (this year, TELUS, Rogers, Bell, and TekSavvy) and other representative stakeholders (this year featured the Public Interest Advocacy Centre) debate regulation, pricing, and future challenges to […]
Disruptive Innovation and Digital Integration
Despite persistent fears of a surveillance state and artificial intelligence, the smart device market continues to expand with little chance of collapse. Accordingly, some of the sessions at the 2017 Canadian Telecom Summit (CTS17) focussed on how the telecommunications industry players in Canada are adapting to the rapid evolution of interconnected devices and an increasing […]
Privacy by Default: A Privacy and Cyber-security imperative in the IoT and Big-Data Age
The rapid growth of big data technologies and Internet of Things (IoT) devices mandates the modernization of the Canadian privacy legislation, which establishes protection from both private companies and government agencies. The necessity of the upcoming reforms to the Canadian Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) and the Privacy Act was illustrated during […]
Not-So-Compulsory Licence: a Proposed (and Rejected) Solution to Copyright Infringement in Derivative Musical Works
In a recent MTV news article, author Miles Raymer opined over the “hopelessly broken” state of the US copyright system. While such a sweeping statement clearly oversimplifies the state of copyright law in the digital era, there may be some truth to it. Raymer focuses particularly on the tension between an ever-increasing market for derivative works […]
Wikimedia vs BUS: How to Regulate Copyright on Public Art in the Digital Age
If you’re thinking about posting on Instagram one more selfie from your recent trip to Sweden, think again. OffeSntlig Konst, an open database where visitors can see descriptions, maps and images of public works, was recently found guilty of copyright infringement by the Supreme Court of Sweden. According to the court ruling, the platform, owned […]
Court Rejects Class Action Settlement in Long-Standing Copyright Dispute Between Lawyers and Legal Publisher
An Ontario Superior Court has rejected a class action settlement between the publisher Thomson Reuters and a collection of Canadian lawyers and law firms, stating that the proposed settlement is not “fair, reasonable, or in the best interests of the Class Members.” The proposed settlement would have seen Thomson Reuters fund a trust for public […]
iCanada: Budget 2014 and the Shape of a Digital Economy Strategy
While many Canadians were justifiably preoccupied with the athletic achievements and disappointments taking place at the Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, they may have overlooked the fact that Finance Minister Jim Flaherty released his 10th consecutive budget on February 11th, 2014. Budget 2014, entitled The Road to Balance: Creating Jobs and Opportunities, sets out the Government of […]