Intersections: Negotiating the Spaces of Intellectual Property Under the Conditions of Neoliberalism

Nicole Aylwin is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Communication and Culture Graduate Programme at York University On September 23, 2010, the York Centre for Public Policy and Law brought together one anthropologist, one political scientist and one socio-legal scholar to discuss the potential for ‘protecting’ the knowledge and heritage of indigenous people under international law […]

RIM’s Battle for Information Privacy, Market Share, and its Reputation

Robert Dewald is a J.D. Candidate at Osgoode Hall Law School  Canadian telecommunications giant Research in Motion (RIM), which manufacturers the popular BlackBerry, has reportedly offered information and tools to assist India’s government in monitoring encrypted emails and messaging services (Reuters).  India, which had threatened to shut down the BlackBerry service, is the latest country to […]

ECJ rejects Monsanto’s patent claim over imported soy meal

Nathan Fan is a JD candidate at Osgoode Hall Law School On July 6th, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled in favour of importers of soy meal from Argentina, soy meal that was produced from the Roundup Ready soybean patented by Monsanto.  In its decision (C-428/08 Monsanto Technology LLC v Cefetra BV and Others) […]

Moving Forward with a Canadian Private Copying Levy: Lessons From the EU

Steven Zuccarelli is a 2012 JD Candidate at Osgoode Hall Law School. It is often surprising for the newest generation of multimedia consumers to realize that making private copies of copyrighted work has been occurring long before the arrival of digital music players.  In fact, few remember or even know of recording radio songs onto […]

Intellectual Property Issues for Outer Space Activities

Leigh-Ann Tonon is a JD candidate at Osgoode Hall Law School and is taking the Patent Law course. In this blog, I wish to explore the relevance of intellectual property rights to outer space activities. Despite the inventiveness and innovation needed and used for space technology, it is only in recent years that intellectual property […]

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 […]

Advocate General Mengozzi releases opinion on Monsanto v. Cefetra

George Nathanael is a JD candidate at Osgoode Hall Law School. Last week, Advocate General Paolo Mengozzi of the European Court of Justice released his opinion on the questions referred by a Dutch court concerning the case of Monsanto Technology LLC v. Cefetra BV and Others. The case involves Monsanto’s attempt to prevent imports of […]

Some Consideration of Patents and Traditional Knowledge Implications: The 2009 UN Report on the Status of Indigenous Peoples

Michael McClurg is a JD candidate at Osgoode Hall Law School and is taking the Patent Law course. In late 2009, the United Nations Secretariat of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Peoples released its report on the State of the World’s Indigenous Peoples (“the UN report”). The report is intriguing in that it focuses a […]

Nanotechnology: Beyond the Blockbuster

Patrick Hui is a J.D. candidate at Osgoode Hall and is taking the Patent Law course. Innovator companies have long founded their business plans on the search for blockbuster drugs. Blockbuster drugs are products that generate more than $1 billion in annual revenue for pharmaceutical companies and are the lifeline of these businesses. By allocating […]

The Concept of Life and Neocolonialism

Jasdeep Singh Bal is a J.D. candidate (2011) at Osgoode Hall and is taking the Patent Law course. There is a disconnect between patent laws, which are reflective of Western Industrial and commercial theories, and Eastern philosophies. According to Scheper-Hughes and Lock, there are essentially three different ways in which a body is viewed, two […]