It was a thrilling tale of will they, won’t they, but in the end Canada and the US agreed on a trade deal, which was signed today by Canada, the United States and Mexico at the G20 leaders’ summit in Buenos Aires. While large parts of the new Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) seem to be […]
The Supreme Court of the United States’ decision in the 2017 case of Matal v Tam (“Matal”) has important implications for trademark law inside and outside of the United States.” In ruling that the Lanham Act’s “non-disparagement” provision violated the First Amendment, the Court affirmed the decision of the Court of Appeal for the Federal […]
Walmart’s American patents and reported patent-related activities over the last few months show just how common blockchain-based technology is going to become in the immediate future. Walmart currently holds such patents for a delivery management and locker reservation system, and for a system of managing individual medical records. They have reportedly filed patent applications for a […]
This past summer, several of our members had the opportunity to attend the Canadian Telecom Summit hosted in Toronto featuring a wide-range of discussions ranging from expansions in telecommunication protocols to the implications of privacy and data security in the technology sphere. Among other topics was the discussion surrounding the emergence of Internet of Things […]
This article was originally published by The Centre for International Governance Innovation. It was a “hallelujah moment,” so to speak, when the Government of Canada announced its national Intellectual Property (IP) Strategy, highlighting IP as a priority for the country. After decades of neglect, IP is finally getting the attention it rightly deserves from Ottawa. […]
When I attended the Institute for the Future of Law Practice boot camp in May 2018 in Chicago, Professor Matthew Kugler from Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law gave a lecture on cybersecurity, explaining how big data companies are turning humans into business products. In this information age, we are creating a breadcrumb trail of information about who we […]
Over the last decade, patent trolls have become a prominent intellectual property (IP) issue. Patent trolls are companies that exploit IP as tools for litigation instead of innovation, using purchased patents to threaten other companies to enter into a licensing deal or face a patent infringement lawsuit. Companies targeted by patent trolls can face huge […]
Pharmaceutical research and development (R&D) has skyrocketed in recent years and is projected to reach even greater levels in the future. The total R&D spending has increased by 33 billion USD from 2005 to 2015 and is projected to rise by an additional 19 billion USD by 2020. Is there a way to cut these […]
At first glance, art-marketplace websites like Redbubble and Society6—which print original designs uploaded by users on various consumer products—seem like ideal platforms for an artist to make some extra cash. However, a recent piece of artwork honouring the Humboldt Broncos, uploaded to Redbubble by a non-artist, raises moral and copyright issues with the commercial validity […]
Digital audio sampling—a music production technique whereby sound-clips are extracted from songs and incorporated into new tracks via computer software—is a staple of hip-hop music. With the increased accessibility of Canadian music via apps like Spotify, coupled with the growing Canadian hip-hop music scene, there is great potential for the usage of Canadian musical samples […]