If you’re ever in southern California, Starline Tours offers a special “celebrity homes” tour where they take you on a bus to see where movie stars live. But, despite being an ardent film fanatic, I’ve never been particularly interested in celebrity watching* or Hollywood mansions. What would be far more interesting is exploring northern California […]
On September 25th earlier this year, California became the third state in the US, following Nevada and Florida, to pass legislation in allowing the operation of driverless cars on the road. Two short years earlier, Stanford Artificial Intelligence Lab director Sebastian Thrun unveiled that Google had created the world’s first autonomous car.
As members of the international intellectual property community attend the 24th session of the Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR), they are told to keep the spirit of Beijing alive, referring to the recently concluded Beijing Treaty on Audiovisual Performances. However, there is reason to keep another country’s spirit in mind as well. […]
Sometimes called “the Apple iTunes” case, SOCAN v Bell, 2012 SCC 36 was one of the five copyright rulings released by the Supreme Court of Canada last week. The case concluded that short preview clips streamed by online music retailers qualify as fair dealing for the purpose of research under s. 29 of the Copyright […]
The Japanese restaurant ‘Fuku’ (pronounced foo-koo), which recently opened a new West Palm Beach location, ran into a snag while attempting to register their trademark. The Florida Department of State Divisions of Corporations rejected the application on the basis of subsection 2(a) of the Lanham Act, which states that a mark that “consists of, compromises […]
Previously cited as “the case that could shut down the internet“, Roadshow Films Pty Ltd v iiNet Ltd [2012] HCA 16 (commonly known as AFACT v iiNet or the iiTrial) concluded with a unanimous decision from the Australian High Court ruling that the iiNet, an internet service provider, was not liable for copyright infringement from […]
With a well-deserved reputation for counterfeiting and knockoffs, we have rarely looked to China for innovation and invention. Nevertheless, as an ever-growing giant on the world’s economic stage, China has taken steps to remedy this deficiency. About a year ago, Thomson-Reuters released their second report on the nation’s patent prowess, suggesting that China’s patent will outpace Japan […]