On Nov. 7, the Federal Court of Appeal released their decision in eBay v. Minister of National Revenue, 2008 FCA 348. This case involved the appeal of an ex parte order of the Federal Court under s. 231.2 of the Income Tax Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. 1 (5th Supp.) to produce information identifying “PowerSellers” in […]
Last Monday, the British Columbia Supreme Court released an important decision regarding online defamation in Crookes v. Wikimedia Foundation Inc., 2008 BCSC 1424. In the decision, Justice Kelleher addressed two issues: (1) whether proving ‘publication’ requires evidence of individuals following hyperlinks, and (2) whether creating a hyperlink to defamatory material constitutes ‘republication’ of that material. […]
On October 13, President Bush signed a controversial bill that makes some important modifications to the existing American copyright and trademark regimes. The Prioritizing Resources and Organization for Intellectual Property (PRO-IP) Act toughens civil penalties for movie and music piracy and beefs up criminal sanctions for counterfeiters. Additionally, the bill creates a new office called the ‘International […]
The New Zealand government has taken a novel approach to try to fix what seems to be a nagging problem for governments in today’s connected world: peer-to-peer file-sharing. On Oct. 3, Associate Commerce Minister Judith Tizard announced that recent copyright amendments will come into force, including a provision (92A) that requires internet service providers to […]
There are rumours that a new copyright bill is imminent. Copyright issues are increasingly gaining public prominence and there are views of every stripe. See below for a distinct view by Barry Sookman, copyright expert and co-chair of the Technology Group at McCarthy Tétrault, on the copyright debate as we await the new legislation and continue […]
Open Access, Competition, and Spectrum Auctions This past week, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the US announced the winners of their 700Mhz spectrum auction, with Verizon and AT&T being the big winners. In bidding 19.6 billion dollars in the process, the winners secured rights to broadcast on a very desirable swath of radio frequency […]
With much fanfare last Monday, Amazon.com released their wireless e-book reader that uses e-ink technology and allows users to purchase books wirelessly over Sprint's cellular network in the United States. Though the product lacks the immaculate design of some other consumer electronics (read: the iPhone), it nevertheless hit the spot for many as the product […]
After a see-saw battle at the Federal Court and Federal Court of Appeal, this trade-mark battle between the two automotive manufacturers may be coming to the Supreme Court of Canada. BMW has filed for an application for leave to appeal. Facts BMW has, for decades, used the letter ‘M’ in conjunction with various numbers to […]