Archive for November, 2007
Wednesday, November 28th, 2007
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 ...
Posted in Technology, IP, Copyright | No Comments »
Monday, November 19th, 2007
IBM is going to offer free programs to compete with Microsoft’s Office programs. A new attempt for some good old Microsoft-bashing, IBM failed in 1990 to compete head-on with its OS/2 system, and an ambitious plan to challenge one of the most lucrative businesses for Microsoft. The more important question ...
Posted in Open-Source, Technology, Patents, IP | 1 Comment »
Monday, November 19th, 2007
With the recent Copyright Board preliminary decision which incorporates digital recorders as an audio recording medium[1]; you would think that the CRIA would be jumping for joy as the inclusion of digital recorders would generate more revenue. Furthermore, the CRIA has been lobbying for a private copying levy for ...
Posted in CD Levy, Music Industry, IP, Copyright | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, November 14th, 2007
Over a decade ago, the seminal article, “The Digital Silk Road,” by Norman Hardy and Eric Dean Tribble[1] conceptualized the Internet as “a flee-market where cash and anonymity prevail.” This vision helped spark a flurry of activity and multiple attempts to develop a successful model for collecting payments ...
Posted in Technology, IP | 2 Comments »
Wednesday, November 14th, 2007
In June 2007, the BBC reported, that scientists from the J. Craig Venter
Institute had applied to patent the method they plan to use to create
their synthetic organism. According to the article, the Institute is
claiming exclusive ownership of a set of 381 essential genes believed
necessary to keep an organism ...
Posted in Patentability, Patents, IP | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, November 14th, 2007
In March 2007, the district court in Alexandria, Virginia held that
Vonage, a company which uses voice over IP technology, had infringed claims
of three patents owned by Verizon Communications, and that those patents were
not invalid as obvious. The judgement awarded $58,000,000 in damages and a
royalty of 5.5% on any future ...
Posted in Infringement, Patentability, Patents, IP | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, November 14th, 2007
A recent CBC news story showed several Canada Border Service agents having
posted damaging comments and pictures on their Facebook profiles. The
pictures showed them partying and drinking while in uniform, and the
remarks revealed an inability to discern between certain foreign passports.
While the article will undoubtedly raise issues of national security, it
should ...
Posted in Electronic Databases, Privacy, IP | 2 Comments »
Wednesday, November 14th, 2007
Canada is getting serious on identity theft! Will sharpening the teeth of the criminal law be enough?
To clarify the news headlines, Justice Minister Rob Nicholson’s has announced that proposed legislation intends to criminalize preparatory offences, such as gathering and/or trafficking confidential personal information for the purposes of deceit or fraud. ...
Posted in Identity Theft, Privacy, IP | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, November 14th, 2007
The recent closure of AllofMP3 is coming to an end. The site that was
closed in July 2007 has recently been reopened under another name and site
location. The site that has users pay a flat rate to download music was
thought to be in violation of copyright laws in Russia. However, a ...
Posted in Digital Downloads, Music Industry, Internet Sharing, IP, Copyright | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, November 14th, 2007
Like many cell phone customers, you might be irritated that your service
provider locks you in. Shortly after Apple released its iPhone, hackers
developed unlocking software so the popular phone could be used on
networks other than AT&T. Since it has not been made official that the
iPhone is coming to Canada, many buyers ...
Posted in Technology, Digital Locks, IP | 1 Comment »
