The current copyright statute in Ireland is the Copyright & Related Rights Act 2000. It was changed (a little) to bring Irish law into line with the EU Copyright Directive (2001), but not much has happened since. But following a promise in the coalition agreement after the 2011 general election, a Copyright Review Committee (chaired […]
On March 20, 2012, the United States Supreme Court decided Mayo Collaborative Services v. Prometheus Laboratories, Inc., 132 S. Ct. 1289 (U.S. 2012). The case was unanimous and emphatically reaffirmed that United States patent law does not allow ownership of "laws of nature." The context was a pair of patents owned by Prometheus which claimed […]
Three years ago, the Federal Court announced a plan to try to schedule trials within two years of the commencement of the proceeding. Since that time, many new patent cases have been commenced and some trials have been scheduled and heard. Has the court met its goals for patent infringement actions? In Canada, most patent […]
The Copyright Modernization Act (Bill C-11) has generated much discussion on its merits and deficiencies. However, one issue that commentators have not discussed in depth is the relationship between laws and social norms. Specifically, whether any amendments to copyright law in Canada will have an effect on user behaviour given the social acceptability of copyright […]
The Canadian government and European Union (EU) are currently negotiating a Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA). A key issue has been ensuring that Canadian intellectual property rights for pharmaceutical products are brought in line with EU standards. It appears that the EU believes Canada’s legal regime regulating the approval of drugs does not provide […]
In a move with far reaching implications for the debates around pharmaceutical patents, innovation and access to medicines, the Indian patent office issued its first ever compulsory licence in the post TRIPS era. While health activists, generic manufacturers and several academics lauded the decision, the multinational pharmaceutical industry was up in arms.
Professor Ysolde Gendreau from the Faculty of Law at the University of Montreal wrote an interesting opinion piece for the Montreal Gazette last week. The piece canvasses the history of the Copyright Act, and draws an analogy between the current debate and a similar reform process that took place in the 1950s. In her article, […]
On February 21, 2012, Judge Perell of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice granted certification for a proposed class action suit under the Class Proceedings Act, 1992, S.O. 1992, c. C.6 against Thomson Reuters Canada Limited in Waldman v Thomson Reuters Corporation. The suit was launched by Mr. Lorne Waldman, an Ontario lawyer specializing in […]
IP Osgoode Speaker Series: Copyright and the Music Industry Featuring Robert Levine and Prof Brett Danaher March 22, 2012 6:00pm-7:30pm Moot Court, Room 1005 Osgoode Hall Law School, York University IP Osgoode is proud to present a lecture by Robert Levine on his book, Free Ride: How the Internet is Destroying the Culture Business and How the Culture Business […]
A few weeks ago, while re-reading CCH Canadian Ltd. v Law Society of Upper Canada, [2004] 1 SCR 339 [hereafter CCH], I paused on a rather peculiar detail from this well-known Supreme Court decision. Intrigued, after a brief search, I was surprised to find that no one in Canadian copyright discourse seemed to have expanded […]