Communications Law
Scope of Official Mark Protection (and application of s. 12(1)(e))
The Federal Court Takes a Hard Look At Scope of Protection Available to An Official Mark This article stood out to me today after going through last week’s material on trademarks, especially since it has to do with the “controversial” category – official marks! As the article states, a mark that solely consists of an […]
Patent Troll Awarded $2.2 Billion Against Intel
Hey everyone, I came across this story and thought it would be interesting to share with everyone. The gist of it is that a company whose only business is buying old patents and prosecuting claimed infringements of them sued Intel for a cumulative $11 billion and this week a jury in Texas deliberated on two […]
News of the Week; February 24, 2021
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY Canadian consultation on extending the general term of copyright open through March 12 Extra, extra, read all about it: new Canadian Bill proposes remuneration for use of journalistic works online Time to Pay the Copyright Piper? A Digital Media Platform Copyright Reckoning for Journalists is Upon Us! Meghan Markle gets summary judgment – […]
Should big pharma be allowed to keep their COVID vaccines patented?
https://www.businessinsider.com/vaccine-patents-ips-monopoly-vaccination-process-us-biden-africa-2021-2 There is a really interesting debate happening right now about whether COVID vaccines should have their patents lifted, to allow more production. It is estimated that the current vaccine production is only utilizing 43% of the world’s total vaccine production capabilities. Problematically, only 4% of doses are being administered in the global south (mainly […]
Week 7: Video & Slides – February 26, 2021
Slides & video below… Jon
PC v. PC: Pampered Chef Succeeds Once Again in Trademark Infringement Battle: Smart & Biggar prevails in dismissal by Federal Court of Appeal.
Hi everyone, Came across this decision that reminded me of the Taylor Swift Evermore case and our brief discussion around the concept of confusion. Thought it’s pretty relevant since we are looking at passing off and trademark content right now in class. It’s about Loblaw’s private label brand, President’s Choice, with Loblaw alleging that another […]
News of the Week; February 17, 2021
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY A consultation on how to implement an extended general term of copyright protection in Canada (Canada) Copyright Term Extension – March 12 2021 Deadline to Respond to Very Disappointing Document (Howard Knopf) Afraid to Lead: Canadian Government Launches Timid Consultation on Implementing Copyright Term Extension (Michael Geist) The Copyright Bill That Does Nothing: […]
Reverse Engineering in the Digital Context
Hi everyone, I was wondering about the right to reverse engineer in the digital context and came across the following paper and blog entry via the links provided. I find the paper helpful in getting to know a bit more about the background of reverse engineering in IP. It is claimed that reverse engineering is […]
Proud Boys trademark owner surrenders registration over “toxicity”
Hi everyone, I just wanted to share something I found during a late night Reddit crawl. The owner of the trademark for Proud Boys — now a designated terrorist organization — has reportedly surrendered the organization’s trademark to the USPTO after leaving the group. As the article says, “The use of a trademark is notable […]