Over an eleven day period ending last Wednesday, three lay judges and one professional judge presided over the most closely followed and polarized trials in recent Swedish history. In their hands lies the fate of the Pirate Bay - the ever-popular BitTorrent website. With the court’s judgment due in April, file-sharers and copyright holders all […]
Denis Barbosa is a Brazilian lawyer and Law Professor. He is Professor of Intellectual Property Law at the Graduate Division of the Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, and also at a number of other graduate programs in law schools elsewhere in the country. Professor Barbosa is a member of IP Osgoode's international advisory council. […]
The paperless office is yet to arrive, but that hasn’t stopped companies from introducing innovative ways of consuming written materials. One such attempt is Amazon.com’s e-book, called ‘Kindle’. When first released in late 2007, I looked at how purchasers of content for the device may be limited in their ability to re-sell their copy of […]
The recent situation concerning the Haka Ka Mate traditional dance is demonstrative that intellectual property law as it now stands, does not always provide the best fit. The Haka Ka Mate is a traditional dance that was composed by the Te Rauparaha of Ngati Toa to commemorate his escape from death. However, it is now […]
Recently Shepard Fairey, the creator of the famous Obama poster, filed a lawsuit in the U.S. against the Associated Press [AP]. Fairey is asking the federal court to declare that his poster did not infringe the copyright of AP’s photograph. AP claimed ownership of the image appearing on the poster. The image closely resembles a photograph taken […]
According to a recent article in The Globe and Mail, a pilot project called The Best of B.C. Books Online will endeavour to make about 1000 non-fiction titles, both new and back catalogue, available as electronic books. This will be achieved by purchasing electronic rights to non-fiction books from B.C. publishers, and making them accessible […]
Alberto Musso is Full Professor of Intellectual Property Law and Competition Law and Deputy-Dean of the School of Law at the University of Bologna. He also teaches Copyright and Publishing Law in the Masters program directed by Prof. U. Eco. Professor Musso is a member of IP Osgoode's international advisory council. Bologna-Rome: Zanichelli-Il foro italiano, 2008, […]
In 2007, Dan Heller, a freelance photographer, filed a proposal with the US Copyright Office. The proposal urged for the creation of a system of privately-run ‘Copyright Registrars’. The proposal describes a universal online system where a large number of private companies would be involved in the processing of copyright registration of original works. The […]
Tony Duarte (B.A., LL.B.) practices exclusively in the area of entertainment law and is an Adjunct Faculty member of Osgoode Hall Law School. Perhaps one of the most problematic rights clearance transactions for a producer of film or television production is the licensing of existing photos, film/video clips, or music to the producer for reuse […]
Chris Castle is Managing Partner of Christian L. Castle Attorneys, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Google has reached a settlement of the "Google Books" case brought by the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers against Google and several of Google's library business partners in the Google Books enterprise. (The 300-page settlement agreement has […]