This past year marks a year where the Government of Canada engaged more than ever on the IP front. The Government of Canada’s announcement of a National IP Strategy was welcome news for those interested in leveraging Canada’s intangible capital. As I noted on The Agenda with Steve Paikin, it was a “hallelujah” moment for […]
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 […]
Recently British photographer David Slater came to a settlement with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) in a lawsuit over who owns the copyright to a selfie taken by a monkey, Naruto, who used his camera to take a photograph of herself on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi. The photograph was taken in […]
Although there is no shortage of counterfeit products on the market, it is not everyday that a high fashion designer sues your local flea market. Recently, Louis Vuitton reportedly filed a lawsuit against Dr. Flea’s Flea Market for intentionally selling a handbag that was evidently in violation of Canadian trademark and copyright laws.
On February 8, Osgoode Hall Catalyst Fellow, Dr. Saptarishi Bandopadhyay, presented his ongoing project that involves the critical examination of the relationship between copyright laws and disaster photography. Bandopadhyay holds a Doctor of Juridical Science (SJD) and LLM from Harvard Law School and has studied disasters in the borderlands between Pakistan, India, China and the […]
Earlier this month, Osgoode Hall Law School welcomed Amy Adler, New York University’s Emily Kempin Professor of Law, to present on copyright and the future of art. Professor Adler is a leading scholar of art law and specializes in the legal regulation of artistic expression, sexuality and free speech. Visual artists today, as she describes, […]
The Value of the Pokémon Franchise If you were born in the late 1980s or early 90s or have young children, you have probably encountered a red-cheeked mouse called Pikachu or any of the hundreds of other Pokémon that exist in the Pokémon media franchise. While the premise of catching colourful creatures is rather straightforward, […]
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 […]
“A picture is worth a thousand words.” That remark might be trite, especially in the era of selfies and Instagram, but a book is more than just words and a photograph is more than just ink– the sum of those parts will have meaning or will depict something beyond any constituent elements. When such a […]
Flanked! Two Ed Sheeran songs now face copyright infringement actions. One alleges Sheeran’s “Photograph” copied a song called “Amazing” written for X Factor winner Matt Cardle. Richard Busch—also counsel for the Marvin Gaye estate in the “Blurred Lines” case—filed in June on behalf of “Amazing”’s copyright owner, HaloSongs, Inc. Another, filed in August on behalf […]