Dan Whalen is a JD candidate at Osgoode Hall Law School. An American radio program claimed to have discovered “one of the most jealously guarded trade secrets in the world”: the formula for Coca Cola. The eponymous company, which has gone to extraordinary lengths to guard the secret recipe since its creation in 1888, emphatically […]
Dan Whalen is a JD Candidate at Osgoode Hall Law School. Amid the struggle to bring peace and democracy to the Middle East, there is another lesser-known effort to win the hearts and minds of the region’s citizens online. The U.S. has waged a “war of ideas”, traditionally through unidirectional intervention, but a recent initiative […]
Dan Whalen is a JD candidate at Osgoode Hall Law School. “Poetry, as a highly allusive art form, fundamentally relies on the poet’s ability to quote, to copy, and to ‘play’ with others’ language” – so says the Center for Social Media of American University (CSM). CSM has assembled the Code of Best Practices in […]
Dan Whalen is a JD candidate at Osgoode Hall Law School. It’s no secret that Valentine’s Day has become as much, if not more of, a holiday for marketing and merchandising profiteers as for lovers. With the big day approaching, one such company has made the rather unusual move of seeking to patent the kiss. […]
Dan Whalen is a JD candidate at Osgoode Hall Law School. Calling an end to hostilities, rival chipmakers Intel and NVIDIA have signed a new patent cross-licensing agreement that will take the companies into 2017. The deal grants Intel access to all of NVIDIA’s graphics processing unit (GPU) patents, premier along stand-alone graphics chips. In […]
Dan Whalen is a JD Candidate at Osgoode Hall Law School. The Indian Patent Office recently denied exclusive rights to Abbott Laboratories for a premier HIV-fighting drug – effectively opening up the market to lower-cost generic substitutes. The company’s application was officially contested by four opponents led by the non-governmental organization Initiative for Medicines, Access […]
Dan Whalen is a JD candidate at Osgoode Hall Law School In late December, industry leader British American Tobacco won permission in Australian courts to pursue damages against a local importer for infringing upon one of its product’s trademarks by covering its packaging with health warnings labels. While the importer conceded that the labels may […]
Dan Whalen is a JD candidate at Osgoode Hall Law School eBay Inc. is “not generally liable” for trademark infringement that occurs on its website, according to Advocate General Niilo Jaaskinen of the European Court of Justice (ECJ). He did, however, contend that the online auction-house is liable once it becomes aware of any breach […]
Dan Whalen is a JD candidate at Osgoode Hall Law School In an interesting turn of events since my post last month, the European Patent Office has recently inked a deal with Google to have the Internet titan do some of its much-debated translation work. Each side will benefit from the arrangement. It takes some […]
Dan Whalen is a JD candidate at Osgoode Hall Law School. Joining the arms race of online movie services, Cineplex recently introduced its own download store as part of a multi-phase strategy to create “one of the most powerful online entertainment experiences available to Canadians.” The announcement comes hot on the heels of a similar […]