The recent sequencing of two human genomes exemplifies the current pace of development in the field of genomics. Newer technology is making it much cheaper and quicker to carry out this process, which raises the possibility that its use will eventually become more widespread by researchers, such that the genomes of consumers and patients may […]
Steve Lohr’s article “A New Battle is Beginning in Branding for the Web” highlights the trade-mark issues that are emerging in response to the ever expanding realm of internet technology. As David Vaver explains, trade-marks exist “to identify the trade source of products and services to potential customers.” However, as Lohr points out, those products […]
In August 2008, New Zealand judge, Justice David Harvey, made a ruling banning the publication of the names of two men who were charged with murder, on news websites. His main concern was the ability of jurors to Google the names of defendants before trials, and easily access information on their past criminal history. He […]
The academic scientific community conventionally shares research results, ideas and expertise. Not surprisingly, the commoditization of peer reviewed journal articles seems antiquated with cost and accessibility issues when compared with online posting, web-enabled databases, free online journals and guides as knowledge dissemination tools. In the Aug 25, 2008 edition of The Tech, these practices are […]
As a result of the recent proliferation of social networking sites, a debate has emerged over the media’s ability to use photos added to user profiles, in the absence of express permission granted by the owner. Exacerbating this issue was a recent incident where all four of Toronto’s daily newspapers published articles regarding the murder […]
The US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has begun to adopt a more strict stance towards software patents. The USPTO, while not having yet called for the elimination of software patents, has certainly moved to restrict them. In doing so, the USPTO appears to have aligned itself with the US Supreme Court on the issue, […]
"The fundamental purpose of trademark law, in the bricks-and-mortar world and on the Internet, is to protect consumers from being confused as to the source or affiliation of the products or services that they seek to buy", announced American Airlines in American Airlines, Inc. v. Google, Inc. in August 2007. The airline brought the lawsuit […]
A U.S. appellate court recently held in Jacobsen v. Katzer that copyright holders who dedicate their work for free public use are entitled to enforce an open-source copyright license to restrict the work's future distribution and modification. The Court ruled that open-source licenses are enforceable under copyright law, not merely under contract law, thereby providing […]
A Kentucky Judge has upheld his earlier order allowing the Commonwealth of Kentucky to seize 141 gambling related domain names because they allow residents of Kentucky to access gambling sites. The State argued that each of the domain names fell within the meaning of a “gambling device” under state law KRS 528.010(4) and were thus […]
With another federal election and $300 million in the books, Canadians are left with parliament in similar shape as it was before. The popular perception of a stagnant government may have given more reason to push some citizens to go that extra step to shape a desired outcome, and to try to influence the votes […]