The Research Exemption to Patent Rights - Towards a Minimum Global Standard?

Geraldine Soon is an exchange student at Osgoode Hall and is taking the Patent Law course. At the Standing Commmittee on the Law of Patents’ (SCLP) 13th session in March 2009, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)’s secretariat established a preliminary study on the “exceptions from patentable subject matter and limitations to the rights, inter […]

Real issue with Amazon's 1-Click patent is business method patentability, not prior art

Kevin Osborne is a JD candidate at Osgoode Hall Law School and is taking the Patent Law course. Earlier this month, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) confirmed Amazon.com's controversial 1-Click patent (PDF) following a re-examination of newly-submitted prior art (via TechFlash).  This re-examination sheds light on the difference between the novelty and obviousness […]

Damages in the case of i4i Limited Partnership v. Microsoft Corporation

Nassim Nasser is a JD candidate at Osgoode Hall Law School and is taking the Patent Law course. Microsoft Corporation was, yet again, defeated when the United States Court of Appeal for the Federal Circuit upheld the trial’s court’s decision in favour of the Toronto based software company i4i Limited Partnership (i4i). The dispute between […]

Workshop on Media Suppression

Stuart Freen is a JD candidate at Osgoode Hall Law School. On Tuesday, March 16, IP Osgoode and the Nathanson Centre on Transnational Human Rights, Crime and Security jointly hosted the Workshop on Media Suppression. Held at the Schulich School of Business on York University campus, the workshop was split into two halves: Livelihood (chaired […]

Jaron Lanier: the Father of Virtual Reality technology speaks at Canadian Music Week

Nathan Fan is a JD candidate at Osgoode Hall Law School. At this year’s Canadian Music Week International Breakfast event, Jaron Lanier had a few moments to call upon his audience of fellow music industry top thinkers and executives to consider this question: “What happens when we stop shaping technology and it starts shaping us?” […]

US Supreme Court: Federal courts have jurisdiction over copyright infringement cases

Brandon Evenson is a JD candidate at Osgoode Hall Law School. The United States Supreme Court recently decided the case of Reed Elsevier v. Muchnick, holding that § 411(a) of the Copyright Act is not jurisdictional.  At issue were the rights of freelance authors in their unregistered works.  This case is part of the aftermath […]

Addressing inaccuracies in domain name contact information

Billy Barnes is a JD candidate at the University of Toronto. According to a report commissioned by ICANN, the organization that oversees the domain name system, less than one quarter of domain name ownership records are accurate. Recent statements by the FBI and the UK Serious Organized Crime Agency (SOCA) have drawn upon this report […]

A New Proposal to Protect Canadian Musicians: The iPod Levy

Amanda Carpenter is a JD Candidate at Osgoode Hall Law School. Along with the large amount of copyrighted music that gets copied in Canada without compensating the musician, there are attempts to make sure that some money goes back to Canadian musicians. For example, every time you buy blank media such as a CD or […]

The Written Description Requirement as Interpreted in Ariad v. Eli Lilly

George Nathanael is a JD candidate at Osgoode Hall Law School and is taking the Patent Law course. Earlier this week the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) released an en banc decision on the case of Ariad Pharmaceuticals, Inc. v. Eli Lilly and Company. Ariad sued Eli Lilly for infringement of […]

Compulsory licensing of green technology: positive development or positively disastrous?

Jonathan Odumeru is a JD candidate at Osgoode Hall and is taking the Patent Law course. The group of 77 developing nations (G77), led de facto by China, has called for the implementation of a compulsory licensing system to facilitate the transfer of green technologies. These nations posit that such a system would fulfill vital […]