The 2013 Speech from the Throne seems like a distant memory. Ongoing allegations and revelations emanating from Canada’s Senate chamber have all but overshadowed the Government’s agenda, which Governor General David Johnston dutifully delivered to Canadians on 16 October 2013. Canadians who are eagerly awaiting the Government’s plans for moving the country forward in a […]

There is a little-known place in the world where you can approach absolutely anyone—a Brazilian federal minister or WIPO legal officer; a policy manager at Google or the world's leading cybersecurity expert; an Indonesian LGBT activist or Pakistani digital rights advocate; or someone at some intersection of civil society, government, business, academia, law, technology, or […]

IP Osgoode would like to thank everyone who participated in our "User Generated Content under Canadian Copyright Law Symposium" on October 10, 2013 at Osgoode Hall Law School.  The symposium discussed the new UGC copyright exception with guest speakers from government, industry, private practice, and academia. For those who were unable to attend the conference in […]

A group of high-profile New York aerosol artists is attempting to invoke a seldom-used US statutory provision to prevent the destruction of a collection of buildings containing its works of graffiti. The buildings known as 5Pointz are an outdoor art space for aerosol artists and the self-described “graffiti Mecca” of the world. Over the past […]

At long last, the Canadian Federal Government and the European Commission announced in October that a political agreement has been reached regarding the much anticipated Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA). Although the full-text of the agreement has yet to be revealed, Canadians have a pretty good idea of the way in which CETA will affect […]

In common law countries, the term of protection granted by copyright has been steadily growing ever since its advent in the eighteenth century, yet the benefits of these term extensions has been vigorously debated. A new study by Meghan McGarvie and Petra Mosner, however, provides evidence that payment to authors by London publishers significantly increased […]