Protecting the Public Domain: WIPO Releases Study on Copyright and the Public Domain

Pauline Wong is the Assistant Director of IP Osgoode. The WIPO Committee on Development and Intellectual Property (CDIP) has released a “Scoping Study on Copyright and Related Rights and the Public Domain”, prepared by Professor Séverine Dusollier of the University of Namur, Belgium.  The Study recognizes that many business models now thrive on the public domain, […]

"The Price of Innovation": Report Suggests that the Cost of Drug R&D is Inflated

Adrienne Ng is a JD candidate at Osgoode Hall Law School. Donald Light and Rebecca Warburton (hereafter LW), in February 2011, published a paper entitled “Demythologizing the high costs of pharmaceutical research”.  The paper suggests that the US$802 million price tag of pharmaceutical innovation estimated in a 2003 report is inflated.  A more sound estimate would be US$43 […]

A Bit of Money Could Legitimise Torrent Sites

Brian Parker is a JD candidate at Osgoode Hall Law School and currently enrolled in the course Law & Social Change: Law & Music, in Winter 2011. As part of the course requirements, students are asked to write a blog on a topic of their choice. Uncertainty in the efficacy of current Canadian copyright legislation to address […]

Privacy Commissioners Worried About Lawful Access Initiative

Matt Lonsdale is a JD candidate at Dalhousie University. In an open letter to the Deputy Minister of Public Safety dated March 9, 2011, the federal Privacy Commissioner of Canada and her provincial and territorial counterparts expressed their concerns with the government’s lawful access initiative, a series of bills which would grant new surveillance powers […]

Music Copyright and Public Relations, an Uphill Battle with the Occasional Easy Target: Rogue Digital Music Stores

Tom Gertner is a first year JD candidate at Osgoode Hall Law School and currently enrolled in the course Law & Social Change: Law & Music, in Winter 2011. As part of the course requirements, students are asked to write a blog on a topic of their choice. It is inherently difficult for record labels […]

Take Two for Eastman Kodak in Patent Row with Apple, RIM

Dan Whalen is a JD candidate at Osgoode Hall Law School. Eastman Kodak has received some uplifting news in its ongoing patent dispute with tech giants, Apple and Research In Motion. Last week, the US International Trade Commission announced that it will review an earlier opinion rendered against the photography pioneer. If the decision is […]

Cloud-Based Content and TPMs: the Cloud’s Part in the Next Incarnation of Copyright Reform

Clara Klein is a JD candidate at Osgoode Hall Law School and currently enrolled in the course Law & Social Change: Law & Music, in Winter 2011. As part of the course requirements, students are asked to write a blog on a topic of their choice. The dissolution of Parliament on March 25th has led the Copyright […]

Robertson #2: Class Action Settlement Approval Heard

Kirk M. Baert and Jonathan Bida of Koskie Minsky LLP are class counsel in this action. Heather Robertson has prosecuted two class actions on behalf of freelance authors in Canada relating to the reproduction of their works in electronic media, such as online databases. In the second class action, a settlement went before the court […]

Jones v. Tsige: Snooping and Privacy in Ontario

Professor David Vaver of Osgoode Hall Law School & member of IP Osgoode’s Advisory Board. Can one’s bank account be spied on with impunity?  In Ontario it seems so, if the decision of the Superior Court in Jones v. Tsige 2011 ONSC 1475 is to be believed. 

Red Hot: Fashion Designers Wage War over Shoes

 Ashlee Froese is an Osgoode Hall alumnus and currently practices intellectual property at the law firm of Keyser Mason Ball LLP. If you see a woman wearing these shoes, three things can be deduced.  One, she spent a pretty penny on them.  Two, those are Christian Louboutin shoes.  Three, the surrounding women are a tad […]