Catherine Du Pont-Thibodeau is a J.D. candidate at Osgoode Hall Law School and is taking the Patent Law course.

A topic recently caught my attention while surfing the Internet in search of a subject for this blog: the patentability of business methods in Canada and more particularly Amazon.com’s 1-Click technology. Having very little knowledge of patent law at least so far, I decided to explore this topic to understand what the buzz was all about. Through this short post, I will try to provide some insight on the developments of the Canadian patent law and the impact of the recent rejection of Amazon.com’s 1-Click.

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Posted in Patentability, Patents
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Virgil Cojocaru is a JD candidate at Osgoode Hall Law School.

These days governments are funding private sector enterprises. The public purse is increasingly used to aid businesses. However, many questions remain about the effectiveness of such a strategy. Josh Lerner, in his book, Boulevard of Broken Dreams: Why Public Efforts to Boost Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital Have Failed — and What to Do About It tries to address the issues surrounding this topic. In an interview posted on the Freakonomics – New York Times Blog, Lerner comments on the complexities decision makers face in today’s environment. It is not merely a question of ‘to fund or not to fund’, but rather who, how, and when.

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Posted in Commercialization, Contracts, Electronic Processes, General, IP, Innovation, Patentability, Patents, Tech Transfer, Technology
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Nirav Bhatt is an LLM candidate at Osgoode Hall Law School.

The World Health Organization (WHO), last week witnessed tumultuous questions from various nations at the meeting of Executive Board Members of WHO on the outcomes of an Expert Working Group on Research and Development Financing (EWG) which raised concerns about methods of work employed by the EWG to undue pressure wielded by the pharmaceutical industry over the EWG’s outcomes.  The discussion took place under the agenda item on Public Health, Innovation and Intellectual Property: Global Strategy and Plan of Action, at the 126th session of the Executive Board between 18-23 January, 2010.

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Posted in General, IP
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Stu Freen is a JD candidate at Osgoode Hall Law School.

As details of Conan O’Brien’s severance deal with NBC leak out, it seems that at least one thing won’t be travelling with Conan to wherever he ends up: His signature characters and comedy bits. NBC has reportedly staked out the IP rights in classic Late Night recurring characters such as Conando, the Masturbating Bear, and Clutch Cargo Arnold as part of Conan’s $40 million deal to leave the Tonight Show. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Contracts, Copyright, IP, Ownership
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Peter Waldkirch is a second year LL.B. student at the University of Ottawa.

SciDev.net, a website providing “news, views and information about science, technology and the developing world” recently covered a move by Peru’s National Institute of Culture to declare the techniques for farming a variety of giant white maize, paraqay sara in the Quechua language, a part of Peru’s cultural heritage. Although the practical effects of this declaration are unclear, it is noteworthy as part of the continuing movement to recognize and protect traditional and communal forms of knowledge in a global intellectual property regime that emphasizes rewarding individual innovation.

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Posted in General, IP
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