Innovation

The Emerging Recognition of the Importance of Design and Creative Practice in Product/Service Innovation: Moving Away from a Strict Adherence to Technology and the ‘Hard’ Sciences

In his April 2008 report, ‘Between a Hard Rock and a Soft Space: Design, Creative Practice and Innovation’, Dr. John H. Howard discusses how the arts, humanities and social sciences can contribute to innovation systems and innovation policy by recognizing that design and creative practice play a central role in innovation. He argues that, while […]

The Necessary Link Between Open Source Software and a Substantive Intellectual Property Regime

Adam Bucci is a first year law student at Osgoode Hall taking the "Legal Values: Challenges in Intellectual Property" course. I would like to address the impact that open source software has had on our intellectual property regime.  In this post, I will: (i) outline some strong claims for significantly diluting - if not wholly […]

Entrepreneurship, Inventions and Innovation

Do you ever find yourself reminiscing about the past? Your first record player? Your first Walkman, then Discman, then mp3 player, then video iPod? As we take a look back at how technology has advanced throughout the years, it is clear that we can attribute that evolution to one thing: inventions through innovation. Of the […]

Another Patent Litigation Study: Patent reform or ulterior motives?

Ever wondered who is the most responsible for flooding the US courts with frivolous patent litigation suits over the past decade? While most fingers will inevitably point towards the so called “patent trolls”, the recent study proposed by Nathan Myhrvold in collaboration with the Stanford University Law Professor Mark Lemley is determined to bring the […]

Alpha geeks, Golf Shoes, and the Waterloo Miracle

On Tuesday February 3, the Canadian Intellectual Property Council (CIPC), under the umbrella of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, held a conference on the global threat of illicit trade. The conference brought together stakeholders interested in the protection of intellectual property rights within Canada and around the world. IP Osgoode’s Rex Shoyama was invited as […]

Public Sector IP Management in the Medical Sciences

The balance between private and public interests is usually the centre of most intellectual property policy debates, but this can be said to be especially significant with medical research performed by publicly funded institutions. In a nation such as ours where the health of our citizens is a responsibility of the government, public funds invested […]

IPRs and the Second Coming of a Knowledge Economy: From Anomie to Utopia?

Ikechi Mgbeoji is an Associate Professor at Osgoode Hall Law School. An interesting phenomenon in civilised circles these days is the wonderful ability of both the popular and academic commentariat to reduce or at least purport to reduce complex issues to convenient and potable sound-bites. Perhaps, the benevolence of "experts" in sparing members of the public […]

Institutional Theory: A Management Science Perspective to the Great Patent Debate

Nada Basir is a PhD candidate at the Schulich School of Business at York University in the area of Strategic Management and Policy. The increased use of patents has sparked a critical debate not only at the legal level, but also across the science, management and policy literature. Whereas IP studies were once for the law academics, […]

European Year of Creativity and Innovation 2009

Afroditi Theodoridou is a PhD student at Osgoode Hall Law School. Now that we are heralding a New Year, the European Union is welcoming in Prague, on January 7, 2009, its European Year of Creativity and Innovation (EYCI) with the aim to promote an innovation and creativity-friendly environment. This is a meaningful continuation of the European Year of […]

Changing role of ‘You’ in ‘YouTube’

Ever since the inception of YouTube, people have been extremely creative in finding applications of this user-friendly platform. Owing to its profound integration into our daily lives, its uses have emerged beyond the realm of entertainment. Today, YouTube is being used for everything from uploading user generated videos for sharing with family and friends, to […]