In a recent MTV news article, author Miles Raymer opined over the “hopelessly broken” state of the US copyright system. While such a sweeping statement clearly oversimplifies the state of copyright law in the digital era, there may be some truth to it. Raymer focuses particularly on the tension between an ever-increasing market for derivative works […]
“A picture is worth a thousand words.” That remark might be trite, especially in the era of selfies and Instagram, but a book is more than just words and a photograph is more than just ink– the sum of those parts will have meaning or will depict something beyond any constituent elements. When such a […]
Flanked! Two Ed Sheeran songs now face copyright infringement actions. One alleges Sheeran’s “Photograph” copied a song called “Amazing” written for X Factor winner Matt Cardle. Richard Busch—also counsel for the Marvin Gaye estate in the “Blurred Lines” case—filed in June on behalf of “Amazing”’s copyright owner, HaloSongs, Inc. Another, filed in August on behalf […]
The International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) new rules ban viewers of the 2016 Rio Olympics from creating and sharing Graphic Interchange Format graphics (GIFs). The short videos, typically used as sources of comedic relief, are common on social media outlets like Tumblr and Twitter. Popular GIFs include one of U.S. Gymnast Laurie Hernandez being cheeky by […]
A lot of fashion seems to look the same; such is the nature of trends and functionality. Sometimes the similarities go much further. Fashion behemoth Zara (among others) is no stranger to accusations it copied other designers’ styles. The company is in that spotlight again: this time thanks to assertions that it blatantly ripped off […]
During the Holocaust, a Polish Catholic single mother, Francizska Halamajowa, secreted 15 Jews away from the Nazis. Two families hid for years in the hay loft of her pigsty, while another family lived under the floor in her kitchen. She also hid a deserter from the German army in her attic. To evade suspicion, she […]
A few thoughts on Prof. Jean-Gabriel Castel’s talk, Fully Autonomous Artificial Super-Intelligence: Is it a threat to the human race or a blessing? How can it be controlled? Introduction Before they died, my parents told me stories of how the world once was … They remembered a green world, vast and beautiful. Filled with laughter […]
Alec Peters may be the world’s biggest Star Trek fan. Sure, plenty of Trekkies (or Trekkers, if you prefer) have written fan fiction based on the TV series and movies. A number of fans have even created fan videos. But how many of them have raised more than a million dollars to produce a mockumentary […]
IP Osgoode recently hosted the Orphan Works Hackathon at Osgoode Hall Law School. Typically, a hackathon brings together professionals from a common field, such as computer programming, and assigns them a complex problem to solve. The organizers of the Orphan Works Hackathon used the same premise but invited a broad spectrum of stakeholders of orphan […]
Fail early. Fail often. For lawyers and law students, failure is anathemal; but, in the context of design, failure is a valuable learning tool. For three days starting February 3rd, innovators, law students, and stakeholders in the creative industries descended on Osgoode for IPOsgoode's second annual hackathon.