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
No Fruit for You: EU Trademark Board finds Fruit of the Loom’s use of the mark “fruit” to be invalid
Although not as exciting as a Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show, the latest trademark case involving undergarment company Fruit of the Loom has grabbed the trademark world’s attention.
“Six surfaces being geometrically arranged in three pairs of parallel surfaces, with each pair being arranged perpendicularly to the other two pairs characterised by: (i) any two adjacent surfaces having different colours and (ii) each such surface having a grid structure formed by black borders dividing the surface into nine equal segments”.
This report examines data on the effects of Internet peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing activities on music purchasing which were obtained from a survey commissioned by Industry Canada. The survey was designed to “inform Industry Canada's policy development work” [1] and ultimately therefore support better policy decisions regarding the copyright law in Canada.
Michael "Mike D" Diamond, Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz and the estate of the recently deceased Adam "MCA" Yauch (“the Beastie Boys”) have launched an action against Monster Energy Drink (hereafter “Monster”) for the use of approximately 3 minutes of their music in a video promoting the “Ruckus in the Rockies” event.
A Reverse Payment Agreement (RPA) is an interesting point of interface between competition law and intellectual property law. One crucial issue in this regard is whether RPAs can trigger antitrust provisions. This issue had been dealt with previously here.
In Nycomed Canada Inc. v Teva Canada Limited 2012 FCA 195 (Noël, JA), the Federal Court of Appeal (FCA) considered whether the Federal Court erred in rejecting Nycomed’s counterclaim for induced infringement. The FCA upheld the lower court’s decision affirming that but-for causation must be established in order to successfully claim contributory infringement.
On September 13, 2012, IP Osgoode will be hosting a joint teleseminar with Osgoode Professional Development. The topic of the seminar will be the recent developments in copyright law as a result of Supreme Court rulings on 5 major copyright cases (known as the Copyright Pentalogy). For IP Osgoode coverage of the Copyright Pentalogy, see […]
In the recent decision of Bancorp Services v Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada (U.S.), the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has attempted to reconcile the eligibility of software and business process patents with previous decisions from the United States Supreme Court. The holding also makes qualifying patent eligibility in business […]
Early in July, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) came to a decision with regards to the distribution rights retained by a software company. The ruling, resulting from litigation between UsedSoft GmbH and Oracle International Corp., which can be found here, will prove an important one in today’s increasingly digital society.
A UK High Court ruling handed down in June 2012 will change the policies of the Metropolitan Police (the Met), particularly after they release suspects without laying charges. In a decision centering on privacy practices and the encroachment of the State, it was held that the private interests of two complainants were compromised under the […]