Brent Randall is a JD candidate at the University of Ottawa. The Canadian Copyright Act does not explicitly define the term “author”, but the statute does appear to assume that the “author” will be a human. A recent paper by Professor Annemarie Bridy seeks to challenge this assumption as she argues that “all creativity is […]
Nora Sleeth is a JD candidate at Osgoode Hall Law School. The UK Government has expressed its agreement with the findings of an independent IP law report released in May 2011. The report, titled “Digital Opportunity: an Independent Review of IP and Growth”, was produced by a team led by Cardiff University Professor Ian Hargreaves.
Kalen Lumsden is a JD candidate at Osgoode Hall Law School. The University of Kansas, one of the first universities with a formal open access policy, along with 21 other universities, have joined together to form the Coalition of Open Access Policy Institutions (COAPI). Their mandate will be to craft policies to implement open access […]
Andrew Baker is an LLB/BCL candidate at McGill University Faculty of Law. The United Kingdom is proceeding with implementation of the Digital Economy Act (DEA) after the legislation recently passed through the judicial review process begun last year.
Taylor Vanderhelm is a JD candidate at the University of Alberta. Marvel Worldwide Inc. won its case to retain the copyrights to comic characters against the estate of legendary comic creator Jack Kirby. The suit was in response to Kirby’s heirs filing of 45 notices of copyright termination in order to reassert their claim to […]
Brent Randall is a JD candidate at the University of Ottawa. The Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) recommended to the General Assembly on July 26, 2011, that a diplomatic conference be held on the protection of audiovisual performances.
Satomi Aki is a JD candidate at Osgoode Hall Law School. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), the independent advertising watchdog of the UK, upheld On July 13, 2011, complaints against Jamster, a SMS mobile phone content provider, over their ad for a joke phone hacking app that was originally televised in April 2011.
Graham Reynolds is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Law at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and an IP Osgoode Research Affiliate. Recent legislative developments in Canada and the United Kingdom (UK) have raised concerns that expansions in copyright protection may negatively impact freedom of expression rights. In June 2010, the Canadian […]
Grant W. Lynds is a partner in the Ottawa office of Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP, whose practice focuses on intellectual property litigation and patent prosecution. This case analysis has been re-posted with his permission. In recent years, Canada’s Federal Court has generated much debate with respect to whether patent applicants in Canada owe a “duty […]
Jennifer O'Dell is a JD candidate at Osgoode Hall and Denise Brunsdon is a social media writer and researcher. Only one post remains on the Ridiculous Pictures of Celine Dion Tumblr and it is tellingly tagged "RIP" and "the dion effect." Dion's lawyers sent Nick Angiolillo, the New York blogger who runs the satirical Tumblr site […]