South of the border, the FCC has seemed toothless of late in its attempts to control Internet service provision. It longs for the vociferous support its Internet policies enjoyed just a few years ago. A Court of Appeals decision forbade the Commission from interfering with providers’ selective slowing/blocking, and months of subsequent secret net-neutrality-brokering meetings have proven fruitless and been overshadowed by a private Google-Verizon agreement. But, in Ottawa, this week’s back-to-back decisions show the CRTC firmly in control of Canadian Internet policy.

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Posted in Internet, Regulatory Policy, Telecommunications
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When one approaches the self-serve fountain drink machine at any given fast-food joint, it is usually safe to expect that the liquid beverage sputtering out of the “Coca-Cola®” nozzle would indeed be filling your cup with a Coca-Cola® product. But would one expect the same brand name association to be upheld in the restroom? In a recent Court of Appeals case, the 4^th Circuit held that a paper towelling manufacturer was liable for contributory trademark infringement when it actively encouraged its distributors to supply its own brand of towelling into a competitor’s towelling dispenser.

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Posted in Trademarks, Uncategorized
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Michael John Long is an LLM candidate advancing to the PhD at Osgoode Hall Law School

In his recent essay, Do Patents Have Gender? , intellectual property scholar Dan L Burk admits upfront that the title question ‘strikes many readers as improbable, even nonsensical.’  However, the posited question aims to introduce just how an intellectual property system, which is designed to grant sets of exclusive rights, can include elements of gender.   As Burk notes, feminist scholarship over the past few decades has illuminated the ways in which gender plays a role in many theories and practices of law; including criminal law, civil rights, family law, employment law, tax law, and so on.

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Posted in IP, Patentability
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Steven Zuccarelli is a 2012 JD Candidate at Osgoode Hall Law School.

New York Senator Charles Schumer has recently unveiled the latest U.S attempt to protect innovative and novel fashion designs.  The Innovative Design Protection and Piracy Prevention Act (IDPPPA), an amendment to the U.S Copyright Act, aims to curtail knockoffs of new fashion designs.  Sen. Schumer states, “Unregulated, high-end knock offs are hurting the integrity of this industry, my legislation will level the playing field with European designers and protect an industry that employs hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers and pumps billions of dollars into the local economy.”   The bill itself can be viewed here.

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Posted in IP
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