Archive for the ‘Ownership’ Category

Copyright Law in Iraq: All Bark, No Bite

Tuesday, March 11th, 2008

On January 28th, 2008, the Iraqi Ministry of Culture and the IZDIHAR Project co-hosted Iraq’s first Iraqi Copyright Awareness Conference. While it was awarded minimal media coverage, the rare congregation of authors, creators, painters, innovators and government representatives exemplified the manner in which the political and social landscape is shifting ...

Second Life for Lawyers?

Wednesday, November 14th, 2007

Second Life, as it is aptly named, is a virtual world. Through online personas, known as avatars, users of Second Life interact with each other as well as with the virtual items that they create. Users reap rewards for their creative efforts by retaining and exploiting intellectual property (`IP’) rights ...

Music Publishers Join Case Against Video-Sharing Site YouTube

Tuesday, November 13th, 2007

YouTube, an extremely popular video-sharing site that was created in 2005, is rapidly increasing concerns over video-sharing online free of charge. Right-holders of the videos argue that they are being unfairly deprived of the profits that are due to them. These concerns have actualized into legal actions. Recently, music publishers ...

Rights and Protections in the Virtual World

Tuesday, November 13th, 2007

  The past two decades have been marked by extreme technological advances.  The internet has opened many doors in the way of business transactions, availability of resources and research and most notably a new communication ability and efficiency.  In 2003, Linden Research Inc. launched Second Life which is one of the newest developments in ...

Copyright piracy and the Robin Hood justification: are we missing the point?

Tuesday, November 13th, 2007

The events of early October, 2007 may herald a new age of respect for intellectual property (IP) rights. The first trial on peer to peer music file sharing pits the major record companies against a woman accused of copyright infringement, an act for which the U.S. Federal Court awarded a ...

Is Virtual Property on the Verge of Reality?

Tuesday, November 13th, 2007

    Cross border transactions are a hot topic in today’s legal community. However, picture a very different type of border and a very different type of transaction. The dispute is real, the border vague, and the substance is, well, virtual. On May 1, 2006 Marc Bragg, a Pennsylvania lawyer, launched an ...

Second Life “land” dispute moves offline to federal

Tuesday, November 13th, 2007

The issue in dispute deals with a user of the popular online game, Second Life, who exploited a flaw in Linden Lab’s online auctions. Marc Bragg used the flaw to purchase virtual land at well below market value and as a response Linden Lab seized his virtual land and shut down his account. This ...

Video: Chocolate, Copyright, Confusion: Intellectual Property and the Supreme Court of Canada

Monday, November 5th, 2007

Update: If you are unable to view the above video, please follow the link below to launch the video in Windows Media Player. Link to video This lecture assesses how the Supreme Court is interpreting Canada’s intellectual property laws and how its decisions ...