Hey all,  If you spend a bad amount of time on Twitter like I do I’m sure you’ve seen the buzz about Bad Art Friend, a piece in the NYT Mag about a very convoluted and petty feud between two authors. One of the main points of contention in the article is an allegation of […]

Video and slides below. Unfortunately the camera was focused in the wrong place. Sound is fine which ultimately is the important thing. We have dealt with the annoyance somewhat by just having voice over slides for this class. Jon

Hi everyone! I just came across an interesting IP-related article that I thought I’d share. Essentially, it is about how writer and actress Michaela Cole turned down a $1 million Netflix deal because they wouldn’t allow her to retain any of the copyright. Mind you, Cole was only asking for 5% of her copyright (at […]

Video and slides below. Note that I have included among the slides on the copyright owner’s right to perform a work in public (and the right of others to perform the work if not in public). I will be going through these next class, and they will be in in part or full in the […]

Video & slides below… Jon

Welcome to Intellectual Property. May it prove to be a satisfying and fun adventure for each of you. Today’s video and slides below… Jon

Hi Everyone! I would like to share my presentation on Fluid Trademarks with all of you. Fluid trademarks are marks that change over time (think Google Doodle). They are an increasingly prevalent branding strategy in the digital age, but due to their changing nature it is very difficult to shoehorn fluid marks into existing IP regimes. […]

Hi everyone, I decided to do my presentation on Taylor Swift’s decision to re-record her first 6 albums. She just released her version of her album Fearless a couple of weeks ago. I was curious how she was able to re-release her old songs if someone else owned them – if you’re curious as well, check […]

I came across this interesting article on a copyright infringement lawsuit, where an Australian man is suing bitcoin.org for displaying a copy of the bitcoin white paper (which outlines the idea behind bitcoin) on its website. It is essentially a fight over proving authorship of the bitcoin white paper, and it made me think of […]

https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/copyright-infringement-showdown-the-4536885/   Hey everyone. Found this interesting article discussing fair use in the United States and how the doctrine has been used over time. I think it is interesting to compare this with our “fair dealing doctrine”. Although both are meant to achieve a somewhat similar purpose, there are several differences. The four factors of […]

Hi Everyone, I came across this op-ed in The Guardian about the patent restrictions on Covid vaccines that I thought was very timely. Amongst the obvious concerns that vaccine patents are getting in the way of manufacturing the needed volume, the author advocates for using “‘compulsory licensing'” to make the pharmaceutical industry allow local manufacturers […]

Hi IP’ers,   Hoping your exam seasons are wrapping up smoothly!   With former VANOC President and CEO, John Furlong, making his recent pitch to the Vancouver Board of Trade for the 2030 Olympic Winter Games, I thought it was fitting to explore how the 2010 Games handled their IP protections for my term paper. […]

Hi Everyone, I came across this update in the litigation between Google and Oracle regarding Google’s use of some Oracle code in creation the Android platform. The US Supreme Court has ultimately decided that Google’s use of the code constituted fair use, with the majority noting key factors being that Google “took only what was […]

I subscribe to a newsletter that alerts me any time the SCC grants a leave to appeal, which always results in interesting news for my inbox. In 2012, the SCC decision in ESA v SOCAN (2012 SCC 34) held that no separate communication tariff applies to downloads of a musical work. However, this decision was […]

Someone is suing Apple over their “Buy” button on iTunes, arguing it’s deceptive in light of the way they license content and reserve the right to stop hosting that content at any time. Apple filed a motion to dismiss on the grounds that no customer would reasonably expect otherwise, and questioned the plaintiff’s standing due […]