Ipilogue

Giuseppina D'Agostino is the Founder and Director of IP Osgoode and an Assistant Professor at Osgoode Hall Law School. Among the many potential issues that I could discuss in Canada's copyright consultation process, I will address just three things that I think are necessary to help position Canada as a global leader in copyright policy. Namely, […]

Scott Beeser is a Patent Attorney at Apotex Inc. in Toronto.  He obtained a Ph.D. in Biology from the University of Utah and a LLB from Osgoode Hall in 2002. He is a registered Canadian Patent and Trade-mark Agent.  Prior to joining Apotex, Dr. Beeser was an associate at a IP-boutique in Toronto. Scott answered […]

On May 6, 2009, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger launched an initiative to make available free digital textbooks for high school students.  California's Secretary of Education, Glen Thomas, was responsible for ensuring that digital resources were available for use in high school math and science classes this September.  According to Governor Schwarzenegger, California's budget crisis motivated […]

In response to the complaint against Bell Sympatico (Bell) by the Canadian Internet policy and Public Interest Clinic, based at the University of Ottawa, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner produced a report of findings dated August 13, 2009. The complaint launched under the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) alleged 1) that […]

Software patents have been criticized frequently in recent years for a multitude of reasons. Computer programmers argue that they can make programming impossible for both commercial and for non-profit projects. Some analysts have noted that they do not promote innovation like patents in other industries do, and may in fact be hurting research and development […]

Beer companies are notorious for their litigious ways and this summer has seen a continuation in the legal drama. In May 2009, beer giant Labatt Brewing Co. Ltd. launched a lawsuit against the Waterloo-based Brick Brewing Co. Ltd., regarding the similarity of the Brava and Red Baron bottles. Labatt, who acquired Brava in 2007 when […]

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit recently ended much of the controversy surrounding product-by-process claims in Abbott Laboratories v. Sandoz, Inc., but arguably created a new debate in the intellectual property world.  The court overruled an earlier panel decision from Scripps Clinic & Research Foundation v. Genetech, Inc., instead following the precedent […]

Kathy Bowrey is a Professor of Law at the University of New South Wales, Australia.  She is also an IP Osgoode Research Affiliate. Understanding copyright history requires an appreciation of legal history. It requires knowledge of the origins and debates around the 'science of law' and a sensitivity to the shifting politics of the courts […]

Nirav Bhatt is an LLM candidate at Osgoode Hall Law School. BACKGROUND During the early 1990s, the extent of protection and enforcement of Intellectual Property ("IP") rights varied widely around the world. As IP became more important in trade, these differences became a source of tension in international economic relations. New internationally-agreed trade rules for […]

In a recent decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) ruled that method claims in patents cannot be infringed under 35 U.S.C. §271(f). This section of the Patent Act is meant to prevent the encouragement of infringing a U.S. patent in another jurisdiction, and it came about in response to a […]