IP Osgoode is an independent voice that explores legal governance issues at the intersection of intellectual property (IP) and technology. The program’s researchers, collaborators, and students actively engage in some of the most important and cutting-edge IP law and technology related research and policy discussions of today.
Commentary and analysis on the latest developments in intellectual property, technology and privacy, featuring curated contributions from students, scholars, and experts within the Osgoode community.
Over the last thirty years, investment in the research and development of pharmaceuticals has risen dramatically. However, the availability of new drugs has not matched the rise in investment. Instead, Michael Heller has found that the pharmaceutical industry is stuck in a “patent gridlock”[1], where patent owners are blocking inventors from using patented products and […]
Following late nights out this past August, I could count on getting home, turning on the TV, and catching an Olympic event as it occurred live. My favourite was women’s gymnastics. What I failed to realize at the time, however, was just how meticulously orchestrated the 2008 Beijing Olympic games actually were- and by this […]
In 2006, Jason Fortuny was posting a fake ad on Craigslist. He pretended to be a 27 –year-old female bondage enthusiast. She (Jason) was looking for a “white or latin man … to give intensive pain and discipline.” Fortuny then collected the replies, 178 in total (145 of them with pictures of men showing them […]
In March 2007 Viacom filed a $1 Billion lawsuit alleging that YouTube “actively engage[s] in, promote[s] and induce[s] [copyright] infringement”. Viacom properties such as South Park, Mean Girls and An Inconvenient Truth have been posted on YouTube.[1] For their part, YouTube has asserted a seemingly ironclad defense: Under Section 202 of the Digital Millennium Copyright […]
In recent years, Montana has been flooded by wealthy out-of-staters buying property. [1] Montana’s historic economy was built on mining, timber, railroads, ranching and energy extraction; today, the economy is regularly injected by the income resident-retirees earn from their investments. Although Montanans are reportedly weary of these out-of-staters transforming their sprawling ranch lands into a retiree’s paradise, […]
Recent decisions by the US courts and Patent and Trademark Office have suggested a move towards the rejection of software patents.[1] This is likely an attempt to resolve the issuance of junk patents, the difficulty in developing software that doesn’t infringe existing patents, and the resulting patent-troll litigation.[2] Irrespective of the current problems, software should […]
Editor in Chief: Prof. Carys Craig (ccraig@osgoode.yorku.ca)
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