Ontario Court Of Appeal Finds Insurance Coverage Does Not Apply To Cyber Hack

Kimble v Marvel gets caught up in SCOTUS's web

United States Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan is a fan of comics. If you had not already read that in her bio at SCOTUS-tracking blog Supreme Court Review, you might have inferred it from the Spiderman references she included in her Kimble v. Marvel ("Kimble") decision. She even supported her final decision, declining to overturn the limits […]

The Academy Awards Selfie Rights Debate

Copyright ownership in Ellen Degeneres' famous Oscar Twitter Selfie, which holds the record for most retweets, might be unclear, but for the average citizen sharing the picture, it doesn’t matter much. Canada’s fair dealing and the United States’ fair use exemptions cover the most common types of sharing and dissemination of the image.

Dating Sites Scrape Internet for Women’s Photos, Including Those of Deceased

Dubious and likely illegal image scraping is alive and well. And outside of particularly public, harmful cases like Rehtaeh Parsons’ photo ending up on a dating site, few organizations or governments seem to be effectively coordinating to stop the practice.

Pride and Percentages: Copyright Term Limits and Payments to Authors in the Romantic Period

In common law countries, the term of protection granted by copyright has been steadily growing ever since its advent in the eighteenth century, yet the benefits of these term extensions has been vigorously debated. A new study by Meghan McGarvie and Petra Mosner, however, provides evidence that payment to authors by London publishers significantly increased […]

Composing Consent: Federal Court Dismisses Pinto v BJEC

The Federal Court recently held that in the absence of a written agreement, a copyright holder could grant implied consent to the use of their work when they allowed the work to be used for the purpose for which it was commissioned. This ruling may cause concern for authors who wish to retain control of their works […]

Electronic Contracts - Still as Good as Paper Ones

The American courts have taken another pass at the recurring question of whether electronic documents and signatures are as good as written ones. The decision in Forcelli v Felco Corp finds that yes, an arrangement of electrons in silicon can be just as valid in law as an arrangement of dye on a dead tree.

To Poach a Mockingbird: Harper Lee's Trade-mark Battle

So much for southern hospitality. Celebrated American author Harper Lee finds herself embroiled in a trademark clash for the right to register the title of her own 1961 Pulitzer-winning novel, To Kill a Mockingbird.

Copyright and the "Marvel Method" - Jack Kirby's Heirs Lose On Appeal

On August 8th 2013, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld a lower court ruling that comic book artist Jack Kirby’s contributions to Marvel were “made for hire”, and therefore ineligible for copyright termination notices under §304 (c) of Title 17 of the United States Code.

Beyond Knowledge and Consciousness – The Development of Liability for Misuse of Trade Secrets in the UK

On May 22nd, 2013, the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom ("UKSC") decided the case Verstergaard, and in doing so created an important precedent concerning the relevance of subjective aspects of personal liability when misusing trade secrets and confidential information.