In early 2023, Wizards of the Coast (WotC), owner of Dungeons & Dragons (D&D), attempted a highly controversial revision of their foundational Open Game License (OGL). This move sparked a major intellectual property controversy, threatening two decades of independent publishing built on the original OGL 1.0a. The leaked draft triggered a backlash, highlighting critical questions […]

Amateur sports teams have long used designs reminiscent of professional franchises, yet legal challenges arising from such use appear relatively rare. A 2018 article describing a youth lacrosse team’s use of a Vancouver Canucks trademark, resulting in legal intervention, prompted me to consider what made this situation different. Why can some youth organizations use similar […]

A big question we have asked ourselves in this IP class is “Who owns the copyright in an AI work?” It is a question that not only we—but courts and governments across the world have been struggling to answer. For my project I decided to write a song about copyright, and specifically, the different ways […]

Quick throwback to Copyright law: while reviewing the class, specifically Preston v Lucas and Cinar v Robinson, I was reminded of headlines I saw earlier this year about a strikingly similar case. In this case, Dave Franco and Allison Brie, along with a production company, are being sued over the horror movie “Together” by production […]

If you’re someone who loves a good mental workout, I’ve put together a fun, brain-tickling IP Crossword packed with clues that range from definitions to landmark cases. Think of it as the perfect blend of legal geekery and puzzle-solving joy. Give it a shot, and if you find yourself stuck on a clue or two, […]

I came across this Instagram reel made by the producer @itsyoungcheetah. In it, he got AI to make him a topline. He made the beat (he’s a producer after all), wrote the initial lyrics for the chorus and recorded himself performing it. However, because he is not an artist (in the vocal sense) so he […]

In copyright, you cannot own a fact. In our earlier classes we learned this in Maltz v Witterick, where the Federal Court held that “the use of common historical facts is not copyright infringement.” Winkler v Hendley builds on this, and further holds that an author who publishes what is said to be a nonfiction […]

It has been established in Canada that sports broadcasting is subject to copyright law, but what about the substantive data that is the product of sport? In CBC v SODRAC the Supreme Court of Canada employed a purposive construction of the Copyright Act, specifically s. 3(1)(d), holding that reproduction rights remain exclusively with the copyright […]

Press Play to Create Vibe for optimal viewing The 18 Card Expansion Deck Project Statement For this project, I chose to take one of my favourite intellectual properties, Pokémon, and mash it up with key themes from our course. The result is an 18-card “IP Law Expansion Pack” for the Pokémon Trading Card Game. Each […]