The following is based on the Globe and Mail article "Major companies agree to make anti-pollution patents public," by Martin Mittelstadedt. Since January 2008 patents developed with the goal of fighting pollution have been put into the public domain by a growing number of large companies, such as DuPont and Xerox. Dubbed the "eco-patent commons," […]

In the past courts have drawn a distinction between trade secrets that were tangible or written and those that were retained in memory, offering protection for the former. That is, if employees held in their memory certain secret information from a previous job, they were able to disseminate or use said information with impunity in […]

It seems that in the world of branding and trade-marks the Internet is turning into a genuine Wild West.  This truth becomes evident upon reading Steve Lohr’s article in the New York Times, as it addresses fundamental trademark issues arising in an increasingly Internet-saturated society.[1] These trends are primarily related to the development of new […]

In the Supreme Court decision in Quanta Computer, Inc. v. LG Electronics, Inc,[1] the Court unanimously agreed to uphold the doctrine of patent exhaustion. The application of this doctrine is in the public’s best interest and therefore outweighs the detrimental impact of the doctrine on patent owners’ rights to control. LG Electronics (LG) had licensed […]

Craigslist is a popular free online website where people can advertise or seek information about jobs, personals and goods and services. Over two years ago, Jason Fortuny posted a fake ad on Craigslist, claiming that he was a female bondage enthusiast looking for someone “to give intense pain and discipline.” He then took the 178 […]

The United States Congress rescued citizens in the state of Montana from a Las Vegas businessman who attempted to expropriate, albeit legally via trademark registration, one of their cherished assets: a slogan “The Last Best Place”.  They achieved the right result, but I think they went about it incorrectly.  Congress blocked the possibility of trademark […]