Pamela Samuelson is the Richard M. Sherman ‘74 Distinguished Professor of Law and Information at the University of California at Berkeley and is a member of IP Osgoode's International Advisory Council. Many commentators and policymakers have expressed serious concerns about the exclusionary potency of patents on communications protocols and interface designs for information and communications […]

One of the most prevalent criticisms leveled against China today is the lack of human rights afforded to its citizens.  This is particularly so in the area of civil and political rights, where China’s single-party unitary rule has made political prisoners of pro-democracy activists.  Western advocacy groups have applied political pressure to convince the Chinese […]

On March 26, 2009, the Queen held a reception for leaders attending the G-20 summit. President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle were the first dignitaries to meet the Queen. During their private meeting, President Obama and the first lady presented the Queen with a gift. The gift was a personalized iPod - complete with […]

A recent cyber-squatting dispute sheds light on the fact that although avenues for resolutions exist, cybersquatting is still a major problem plaguing internet commerce today. It all started when US media giant Viacom, decided to move material about its TV show 'Jackass' to the domain name 'jackass.com',  but realized that a serial cybersquatter based in the Virgin Islands (owned […]

Although a patent is typically seen as a right to exclude others, the willingness of American courts to automatically provide that right through a permanent or preliminary injunction has been affected by the Supreme Court of the United States in Ebay v. MercExchange (547 U.S. 388 (2006)).  In a recent article, Prof. Richard Epstein argues […]

ViVien Hoang is a first year law student at Osgoode Hall and is taking the Legal Values: Challenges in Intellectual Property course. Aubry v. Editions Vice-Versa, [1998] 1 S.C.R. 591 altered the legal landscape in which photographers were operating in Quebec.  Aubry distinguishes Canadian public photography laws from American ones; the contrast is evident when […]