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
Chris Castle is Managing Partner of Christian L. Castle Attorneys, Los Angeles and San Francisco. On Thursday, May 21, U.S. District Court Judge Marilyn Hall Patel wrapped up hearings on the preliminary injunction she granted in the fall against Real Networks and its "RealDVD" copying software. And the Real "Facet" DVD copying and storage device […]
In a recently released decision by the Canada Patent Appeal Board and Commissioner of Patents, an application by Amazon.com for its one-click ordering system was rejected. The application contained 75 claims and was a response to the Examiner's report from 2002, where claims 44 to 50 were directed to a physical object and the rest were […]
The dispute between Microsoft Corporation and the defendants, PC Village Markham, PC Village Downtown - two software retailers in the Greater Toronto Area - and two of their employees, Syed Aziz and Johnson Ye, arose because the defendants were selling counterfeit Microsoft software, "software that was neither manufactured by Microsoft nor by any of its […]
s. 29.1 of Canada's Copyright Act provides that fair dealing for the purpose of criticism does not infringe copyright if the source is mentioned. The main issue then is whether parody - the use of humor or ridicule to point out some particular feature of the original work - is an acceptable form of criticism as per […]
Section 230 of the United States Communications Decency Act (47 USC 230) gives "providers of interactive computer services" (like ISPs, internet forums and social networking sites) immunity from certain types of claims when the providers publish or republish the works of other people. It was enacted to overrule a 1995 decision that held an ISP […]
It is no secret that counterfeit goods have been sold over the internet for years. Your relation to someone who has purchased some form of counterfeited good over the internet most probably follows the six degrees of separation rule. As a prominent source of the sale of counterfeit goods, U.S.-based eBay has been sued by […]
Sean O'Connor is a Professor at the University of Washington School of Law and Chair of the Law, Technology & Arts Group, specializing in intellectual property and business law involving biotechnology, cyberspace/information technology, and new media/digital arts. Professor O'Connor is an IP Osgoode Research Affiliate. This is the second part of Professor O'Connor's feature blog […]
Stan Liebowitz is the Ashbel Smith Professor of Economics at the University of Texas at Dallas, School of Management. Economists and non-economists alike tend to be familiar with the phrase "creative destruction" and its implications that, although established firms may bemoan new innovation upsetting apple carts in their industry, and government may try to protect […]
In her research paper titled "Of Trolls, Davids, Goliaths, and Kings: Narratives and evidence in the litigation of high-tech patents," Assistant Professor Colleen V. Chien, at Santa Clara University School of Law, provides a snapshot of U.S. patent litigation that could not only inform current efforts to reform the patent system, but could also serve […]
A recent proposal by European Commissioners Meglena Kuneva and Viviane Reding outlined a number of consumer protections relating to licensing agreements. In the event that the proposal becomes law, software companies could be held liable for their code. The directive requires that products, including software licensed under licensing agreements, be held to a higher standard […]