Copyright & Social Media
Communications Law
Presentation: Make-up Artistry and Copyright Protection
Veldkamp_Presentation_LAW422_IP Hi everyone, please find my audioslide presentation attached to this post — I hope you will find it interesting! Here is a transcript of the presentation for easy referral later: “Hello everyone, today I will be talking about Make-up Artistry and Copyright Protection. I think we can all agree that make-up artists are, […]
Is there Magic in those Mushrooms? Part 2 – Protecting New Psilocybin Derivatives
Hi everyone, I believe Professor Festinger had posted the original article about magic mushrooms during February 3 news of the week (https://www.bereskinparr.com/doc/is-there-magic-in-those-mushrooms-protecting-psilocybin-and-other-actives-from-magic-mushrooms). I happened to come across that original article and saw this follow up-article that provides some insight into patent law in the area. This article goes into a review of strategies for protecting chemical […]
Using copyright for the removal of “revenge pornography” online
Hello friends, I came across an interesting article in researching a paper for another class. I found it really remarkable because it highlights the extent of issues copyright can concern itself with: in this case, copyright infringement principles can be used by victims of “revenge pornography” (i.e. the non-consensual distribution of private sexual imagery) to […]
EU Study Reveals Positive Links Between Intellectual Property Ownership and Economic Performance
Happy Friday everybody! I just thought I would share an interesting article I came across this evening that briefs a recent report published by the European Union Intellectual Property Office. In 2015, a EUIPO study found that companies in the European Union with at least one patent, trademark or registered design “record higher revenues per employee […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]