The IPilogue is IP Osgoode’s online journal of IP Law and Technology. It publishes analysis and commentary on current pressing intellectual property, technology, privacy and related legal issues. The IPilogue features curated contributions from students, scholars, and experts within the Osgoode community, from our network of affiliated researchers and partners, as well as from professionals and scholars in disciplines outside of law.
Editor in Chief: Prof. Carys Craig (ccraig@osgoode.yorku.ca)
Submission inquiries: iposgoode@osgoode.yorku.ca
A recent incident involving replication of an Inuit design by a UK fashion label raises interesting questions regarding whether businesses should be required to go beyond the scope of law and consider what is ethical within the culture being borrowed from. Salome Awa, an Inuit woman, was outraged to discover a sweater made by fashion […]
A preeminent Canadian artist named Ann Phibian. Her shaded-in line drawing of a leaping frog titled “50 Shades of Green” and the public domain painting it was based on titled “One Giant Leap”. A graphic designer named Baron Greenback. The problem for the 2016 annual Harold G. Fox Moot was packed with as many amphibious […]
The U.S. Ninth Circuit court held in DC Comics v Towle ("Towle") that Mark Towle’s Batmobile replicas infringed DC Comics’ copyrights, and that the Batmobile was a "character" deserving of copyright protection.
Featured here is a summary of Pascale Chapdelaine’s article recently published in the Journal of Technology Law & Policy, that is now available at SSRN. The presence of a physical object (a book , DVD, a CD) plays a determinant role in how information products (e.g., commercial copies of computer programs, books, musical recordings, video […]
This blog is cross-posted with permission from Margaret Haig, Head of Copyright Delivery at the UK IPO, her original post is available here. In February, I got invited to take part in a hackathon. I took a second look at the invitation, and 'hackathon' jumped out! But we wouldn’t be hacking our way into the […]
Ambush marketing is the practice of sidestepping the intellectual property rights of well-known brands, often through an intentionally vague and clever implication, to benefit from a public perception of an association or connection to the brand, without paying make that association legitimately. This practice is particularly problematic at sporting mega-events, like the Olympic Games. Canada […]
Introduction to the panel After two exciting and lively debates on the principle of technological neutrality (see Sebastian Beck-Watt’s coverage here) and reproduction rights (see Paul Blizzard’s coverage here), IP Osgoode’s Unpack SODRAC symposium turned to a new panel to ‘unpack’ the paragraphs of CBC v SODRAC [SODRAC] concerning the mandatory (or not) nature of tariffs […]
Should all copies be treated the same way for the purposes of Copyright? If the CBC’s internal content management system creates incidental copies of audio works during the creation or broadcast of a television program or movie, does it enage the owner's Copyright under s 3(1)(d) of the Copyright Act [the "Act"]? What incentives do Canada’s […]
Is there any chocolate bar more recognizable than the KitKat? Maybe, but that does not make it special according to the recent decision from the Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU”) in Société des Produits Nestlé SA v Cadbury UK Ltd [Nestlé]. Nestlé has produced the KitKat chocolate bar for over 80 years. In 2010, the company filed an application […]
The Honourable Mr. Marshall Rothstein is a tough act to follow, especially when recounting his own majority decision. At the recent UNPACK SODRAC: Technological Change and Copyright Tariffs after CBC v SODRAC (SCC 2015) symposium, the former Supreme Court justice stood firmly by his decision in the case during his keynote address. The panelists during […]