Another 45 Years of Protection in the EU for Performers and Record Companies? Academics Hope Not

Next Monday, the EU Parliament will vote on a directive that would retroactively extend copyright in performer’s performances and sound recordings (as they are called here in Canada) from 50 to 95 years. The proposal has been met with strong opposition from the European academic community, including an impressive, 100 strong, list of academics against […]

Sound Science in the Internet Age

Scientific discourse has always been encouraged as a means of nurturing accuracy and development, but according to a recent article by Andre Picard, the internet has changed the nature of scientific debate for the worse. According to Picard, in the world of cyberspace, scientific “evidence” now increasingly takes the form of anecdotal reports, and “debate” […]

Sexting, Teens And A Proposed Offence Of Invasion Of Privacy

Andrea Slane is the Executive Director of the Centre for Innovation Law and Policy (CILP) at the University of Toronto, Faculty of Law and is an IP Osgoode Research Affiliate. The practice of "sexting" - teens sending sexual, nude or semi-nude photos of themselves through text messaging programs on cell phones - is currently garnering […]

IP Osgoode Panel: Copyright in the Remix Era Part 1 – A History Lesson

Last Friday, IP Osgoode hosted a panel of copyright thinkers at Osgoode Entertainment and Sports Law Association's 11th Annual Entertainment and Sports Law Conference. The panel was entitled “Copyright in the Remix Era”, but if the panelists could agree upon one thing it was that this new era is actually a return to old principles. […]

In re Bilski North of the Border

On March 13, IP Osgoode held a panel discussion entitled Business Method Patents: Bilski and Beyond. While the tagline of the event indicated it was to ‘Explore the effect in Canada of recent US business method patent jurisprudence,’ attendees got treated to a lot more. Speaking from a wide array of perspectives, the panelists provided […]

Towards a normative basis for user rights in copyright

Katherine Booth is a first year law student at Osgoode Hall and is taking the Legal Values: Challenges in Intellectual Property course.  Following the Supreme Court’s affirmation in CCH Canadian Ltd. v. Law Society of Upper Canada, [2004] 1 S.C.R. 339 [CCH], that fair dealing under s. 29 of the Canadian Copyright Act is a […]

Song Samplers Beware: Your future is far from certain.

  Amanda Cohen is a first year law student at Osgoode Hall and is taking the Legal Values: Challenges in Intellectual Property course Song Samplers Beware: Your future is uncertain. Friday, March 13th marks the Canadian release date of RIP: A Remix Manifesto, Montreal filmmaker Brett Gaylor’s look into mash-up culture and sampling.  This film and its […]

Trade-mark opposition loss for owners of GLAMOUR magazine

Sanjukta Tole is an Osgoode Hall alumnus and practiced with the IP Group of a large Vancouver law firm. Farleyco Marketing Inc. ("Farleyco") filed a trade-mark application for the trade-mark GHOULISH GLAMOUR for use in association with "Halloween cosmetics and eyelash accessories" on December 16, 2003. Farleyco then commenced selling their products in September 2004. […]

Should Internet Service Providers Become Information Providers for the Police?

Two recent Ontario Superior Court of Justice judgments have allowed for law enforcement agencies to obtain subscriber information from internet service providers without a warrant. In both cases police officers used IP addresses of suspected child pornography carriers, which they had obtained themselves, to get corresponding names and addresses. This has alarmed privacy advocates, and […]

Fair Dealing - Remembering the rights holder

As discussed by Anna in her post yesterday, fair dealing under Canadian law works as follows: a user is allowed a limited use of a copyrighted material without needing to get permission from the rights holder in specific circumstances; for the purpose of research or private study, criticism or review and for the purposes of news […]