On May 10th, 2012 Dish network (hereafter “DISH”) announced that it would be adding a new feature named “AutoHop” to their digital video recorder (the Hopper). The feature would allow viewers to automatically skip over advertisements in the shows that they record. Large TV networks such as Fox, CBS and NBC have called the feature […]
Zut alors! Christian Louboutin is not having a good year with the judicial system and must be seeing red! I have previously covered Christian Louboutin’s dispute with Yves Saint Laurent in the US, with respect to YSL’s use of the red-soled shoes. Christian Louboutin suffered a blow when he was denied a preliminary injunction […]
In an effort to draw a line in the sand in the smartphone market, an “innocent bystander” has been caught in the legal crossfire. Following a successful sales ban of the Xbox 360 in Germany, Motorola set its sights on the gaming console’s home turf, and currently, things are not looking good for Microsoft in […]
On February 28th 2012, the Navajo Nation filed a lawsuit against Urban Outfitters Inc. and its subsidiaries in the District Court of New Mexico for ‘trademark infringement, trademark dilution, unfair competition and commercial practice laws violation and for the violation of The Indian Arts and Crafts Act’. The basis of the Navajo Nation's complaint was […]
There is little doubt that the protection of the patent system has been instrumental in the continued innovation in science and technology by allowing the inventor (or filer of the patent) to reap the benefits of their effort and creativity. The realm of public health is no stranger to these benefits, with such innovation having […]
This comment was prepared for the Harvard Law Review Forum “The New Private Law” Symposium (October 2011) as a response to Shyamkrishna Balganesh’s “The Obligatory Structure of Copyright Law: Unbundling the Wrong of Copying,” 125 Harvard Law Review 1664 (2012).
At the heart of the Rosetta Stone v Google lawsuit is whether the sale of trademarks as search keywords for sponsored links makes Google liable for trademark infringement. Recently, the United States Court of Appeal for the Fourth Circuit in Rosetta Stone Ltd v Google, Inc reversed a significant portion of a Virginia district court decision […]
Free online access to tax-funded scientific research is the most recent movement by American open-access advocate group Access2Research. The group calls for a policy similar to the one currently implemented by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). New scientific papers, which were funded by the NIH, are deposited in the online databank PubMED within a […]
A team of Hamilton scientists at the Stem Cell and Cancer Research Institute (SCC-RI) of McMaster University have made a breakthrough discovery (reported by CTV here) with the potential to significantly impact future cancer treatment, and provide new hope for people living with cancer including tens of thousands of Canadians. Published in last Thursday’s edition […]
On Friday May 25th, the Government of Canada announced a series of investments that seeks to create research partnerships among the academic, public, private and not-for-profit sectors. The effort will be conducted by the Federal Government through grants administered through the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC).