Orphan Works Hackathon: Final Report of the Concepts, Process and Insights

Introduction As the first collaboration of its kind, in February 2016, IP Osgoode and The Copyright and International Trade Policy Branch of the Department of Canadian Heritage, came together to organize the “Orphan Works Licensing Portal Hackathon”, a multi-day hackathon to develop options for a new online system to process licensing of Canadian orphan works […]

The Deal of the Century: An Interview with Ed Fast, Former Canadian Trade Minister

The Deal of the Century: An Interview with Ed Fast, Former Canadian Trade Minister The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is the largest trade agreement ever, made between 12 nations comprising 40% of the world’s economy. In an article written by Barack Obama, who championed the agreement, he claims the TPP will “write the rules of the […]

Storytelling in the 21st Century: An Interview with Hal Niedzviecki

Hal Niedzviecki is a prolific novelist and cultural critic, as well as the founder of Broken Pencil. He is in the process of releasing The Archaeologists, his first novel in a decade, in a serialized format online, where it can be read for free prior to publication. We met up for coffee one afternoon to […]

The Undue Reliance on Physical Objects in the Regulation of Information Products

Featured here is a summary of Pascale Chapdelaine’s article recently published in the Journal of Technology Law & Policy, that is now available at SSRN. The presence of a physical object (a book , DVD, a CD) plays a determinant role in how information products (e.g., commercial copies of computer programs, books, musical recordings, video […]

IP Year in Review 2015: A Look Back on the IP Stories That Will Shape 2016

2015 was an eventful year in intellectual property (IP) law worldwide. Canada in particular saw a lot of activity across all three major areas of IP in both legislation and jurisprudence. Topping the IP news charts was the proposed ratification of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP): a wide-ranging international deal negotiated by twelve nations, including Canada.

Osgoode's IP Intensive Program: Apply Today!

We invite all 1L and 2L Osgoode students to join IP Osgoode at Osgoode’s Clinical Education and Intensive Programs General Information Session and Fair today from 12:30 pm to 2:30 pm.

IP Osgoode Welcomes The Honourable Marshall Rothstein to Osgoode!

IP Osgoode is very excited to be kicking of the New Year by welcoming The Honourable Marshall Rothstein to Osgoode Hall Law School in his new appointment as a Distinguished Visiting Professor.

Branding Linguistics: What Coca-Cola and Chinese Bakeries have in Common

The emergence of Chinese brands has become a global phenomenon. Not only are there exports to and local marketing within the Chinese diaspora and later generations, but Western businesses are also merging with and acquiring Chinese businesses and Western trademarks are engaging in brand extension or cross-branding with Chinese mark owners. In doing so, unexpected […]

Copyright, Disability and Social Inclusion: the Marrakesh Treaty and the Role of Non-signatories

Of Rights and Reservations Access to knowledge has always been at the forefront of the international discourse on intellectual property.[1] The idea that a system designed to encourage creativity and foster innovation must allocate exclusive rights to authors and artists is as old as the Statute of Anne.[2] The same statute, however, provides that this […]

The User-Generated Content Exception: Moving Away from a Non-Commercial Requirement

Introduction In December 2006, Time magazine celebrated “You” as the person of the year.[1]  In the article, Lev Grossman stated that our history is no longer shaped by a few famous men but by all of us who are part of the new Web.[2]  He applauded the fact that over the past year: We made […]