Message Delivered, But Not Received: BBM Canada Loses Case Against RIM

When hearing the word BBM, most people reach instinctively for their BlackBerry, and its instant messaging service, BlackBerry Messenger. However, there is also a company called BBM Canada, formerly known as the Bureau of Broadcast Measurement, which provides impartial ratings data and analysis to Canadian broadcasters and advertisers. BBM Canada sued Research in Motion (“RIM”), […]

New Tariff Aims to Benefit Struggling Musicians by Discouraging Dancing?

On May 31, the Copyright Board of Canada certified a new tariff on the use of recorded music played at events such as weddings, karaoke, and conventions. The tariff will be paid to collective Re:Sound, which represents the rights of artists and music labels.

R.I.P. ACTA (For Now)

While North American IP enthusiasts had likely been pre-occupied with the controversy surrounding the stalled American anti-internet piracy bills known as SOPA and PIPA (covered by IP Osgoode here), Europe has been struggling to deal with the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA). Even though it was designed to be an international framework for improved intellectual property […]

For Your Eyes Only: American Science Scandal Brings Possession of Scientific Data to Forefront

When Judy Mikovits had a ‘keystone’ scientific discovery widely discredited, resulting in the loss of her job, it is unlikely that she considered the state of the intellectual property laws governing the work that she performed for her former employer, the Whittemore Peterson Institute (WPI). However, in November 2011, following the initiation of civil action […]

UK's (Losing) Battle with Pirates

In what seems to be a never-ending war on piracy, the Royal Navy has been seemingly substituted for an army of lawyers, and skirmishes on the seas traded for exchanges in a courtroom.  In a decision that mirrors an international effort to limit access to the peer-to-peer file sharing website known as “The Pirate Bay” […]

Government Innovation Choices after Rio + 20 and the Need for Further Study

At the Rio + 20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development -- which followed by forty years the Stockholm Declaration of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment and by twenty years the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development -- the negotiators sought to “reinvigorate political will and raise the level of commitment by […]

"Copyright, Contracts, Creators – New Media, New Rules" now Available on Paperback

Edward Elgar Publishing has released a paperback edition of the book Copyright, Contracts, Creators - New Media, New Rules by Prof. Giuseppina D'Agostino. Copyright, Contracts, Creators evaluates the efficacy of current copyright law to address the contracting and use of creative works. It looks in particular at freelance works and argues that their copyright treatment […]

The Patentability of Gene Sequences: Myriad Genetics’ Day in the United States Supreme Court

In late March, The United States Supreme Court ordered the U.S Court of Appeal for the Federal Circuit to reconsider Myriad Genetics’ existing patent on two genes associated with a high risk of breast and ovarian cancer, in light of the judgement rendered in Mayo Collaborative Services v Prometheus Labs (Prometheus). A unanimous Supreme Court […]

“Only 58 Seconds to Steal a Painting”: New Symposium Addresses Criminality in the Art and Cultural Property World

June of this year, Toronto’s Old Osgoode Hall hosted a conference that was a first of its kind. Co-chaired and organized by Osgoode alumna Bonnie Czegledi of Czegledi Art Law, the Symposium on Criminality in the Art and Cultural Property World attempted to address an important issue: who is protecting art itself? Events such as […]