This is the issue currently being considered in the US Congress through an attempt to introduce the Design Piracy Prohibition Act (Act). The Act was initially presented in 2006, but at that time the bill was criticized because the broad wording attempted to stop any design that was "substantially similar" to the original, which would […]
Over this past week, the Members of the European Parliament have been deliberating over a new proposal for a pan-European copyright licensing system for digital content. Proposed on Tuesday in Strasbourg by Viviane Reding, Commissioner for Information Society and Media, and Meglena Kuneva, Commissioner for Consumer Affairs, the new plan would pave the way for […]
Catherine Bond is a PhD Candidate at the Faculty of Law, University of New South Wales, Australia. IceTV Pty Limited v Nine Network Australia Pty Limited [2009] HCA 14 In mid-2008, when the High Court of Australia granted special leave to appeal in the copyright case IceTV Pty Ltd v Nine Network Australia Pty Ltd, […]
Jane Ginsburg is Morton L. Janklow Professor of Literary and Artistic Property Law at Columbia Law School and Co-director, Kernochan Center for Law, Media and the Arts. Professor Ginsburg is also a member of IP Osgoode's International Advisory Council. Professor Ginsburg has a new article forthcoming in WORKING WITHIN THE BOUNDARIES OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, Rochelle Cooper […]
A recent article by Professor Emir Mohammed from the University of Windsor Faculty of Law challenges the Continental notion that moral rights, as granted by Canada's Copyright Act, are solely personal rights innate to just “flesh and blood” authors. The article, entitled “Moral Rights and Mortal Rights in Canada”, was published in the April 2009 issue […]
Chris Castle is Managing Partner of Christian L. Castle Attorneys, Los Angeles and San Francisco. You've probably heard the expression "the long tail" used by Web 2.0 cognoscenti. Despite the largely uncritical acceptance the idea received a few years ago, research shows that for artists the "long tail" is the "wrong tale". But it may […]
Pascale Chapdelaine is a Ph.D. candidate at Osgoode Hall Law School and a member of IP Osgoode. Pascale's thesis focuses on the interaction between consumer law and copyright law. What is the consumer entitled to do with musical recordings for her own personal use? Asking this question may appear to some, including consumers, as looking […]
Afroditi Theodoridou is a PhD student at Osgoode Hall Law School. On April 16, 2009, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirmed the district court's decision in favour of iParadigms who operates the "Turnitin Plagiarism Detection Service". This online system evaluates the originality of submitted written assignments by comparing them with […]
A recent pronouncement by Associated Press (AP) to adopt a more aggressive effort to “fend off copycat competition and “misappropriation” in the dwindling market for timely reporting,” has stirred the online news-outlet community and its players. In his capacity as the CEO of MediaNews Group Inc., and the Chairman of Associated Press board of directors, […]
Sundeep Chauhan is currently Vice-President and General Counsel to the NRCC. The Swedish courts have rendered a landmark verdict against the largest peer-to-peer site in the world. The four men behind Pirate Bay, the Swedish file-sharing site used by an estimated 22 million users to freely exchange copyright protected movies, music, software, and video games, […]