Giovanni Maria Riccio is Professor of Private Comparative Law at the University of Salerno. Professor Riccio is an IP Osgoode Research Affiliate. The French Constitutional Court held that the “Creation and Internet” law – the law promoted by the Olivennes Commission and strictly supported by the President Sarkozy – is unconstitutional. This Act – whose […]
For nearly two decades, Rob Reger and his company Cosmic Debris have spent millions of dollars developing the fictional character “Emily the Strange” as a gothic rebel who finds nothing more boring than copying everyone else. Over the years, Emily has evolved from a skateboard design to a media empire which includes clothing lines, comic […]
Chris Castle is Managing Partner of Christian L. Castle Attorneys, Los Angeles and San Francisco. On Thursday, May 21, U.S. District Court Judge Marilyn Hall Patel wrapped up hearings on the preliminary injunction she granted in the fall against Real Networks and its “RealDVD” copying software. And the Real “Facet” DVD copying and storage device […]
The dispute between Microsoft Corporation and the defendants, PC Village Markham, PC Village Downtown – two software retailers in the Greater Toronto Area – and two of their employees, Syed Aziz and Johnson Ye, arose because the defendants were selling counterfeit Microsoft software, “software that was neither manufactured by Microsoft nor by any of its […]
s. 29.1 of Canada’s Copyright Act provides that fair dealing for the purpose of criticism does not infringe copyright if the source is mentioned. The main issue then is whether parody – the use of humor or ridicule to point out some particular feature of the original work – is an acceptable form of criticism as per […]
It is no secret that counterfeit goods have been sold over the internet for years. Your relation to someone who has purchased some form of counterfeited good over the internet most probably follows the six degrees of separation rule. As a prominent source of the sale of counterfeit goods, U.S.-based eBay has been sued by […]
Stan Liebowitz is the Ashbel Smith Professor of Economics at the University of Texas at Dallas, School of Management. Economists and non-economists alike tend to be familiar with the phrase “creative destruction” and its implications that, although established firms may bemoan new innovation upsetting apple carts in their industry, and government may try to protect […]
This is the issue currently being considered in the US Congress through an attempt to introduce the Design Piracy Prohibition Act (Act). The Act was initially presented in 2006, but at that time the bill was criticized because the broad wording attempted to stop any design that was “substantially similar” to the original, which would […]
Over this past week, the Members of the European Parliament have been deliberating over a new proposal for a pan-European copyright licensing system for digital content. Proposed on Tuesday in Strasbourg by Viviane Reding, Commissioner for Information Society and Media, and Meglena Kuneva, Commissioner for Consumer Affairs, the new plan would pave the way for […]
Catherine Bond is a PhD Candidate at the Faculty of Law, University of New South Wales, Australia. IceTV Pty Limited v Nine Network Australia Pty Limited [2009] HCA 14 In mid-2008, when the High Court of Australia granted special leave to appeal in the copyright case IceTV Pty Ltd v Nine Network Australia Pty Ltd, […]