(Professor Festinger please mark this post for my 20%) Introduction In class a few weeks back we compared the two penguin designs that were the subjects of the case, Promafil Canada Ltée v. Munsingwear Inc. This case got me thinking of two logos that have caused me some confusion personally. Polo Ralph Lauren (PRL) and […]

Hi everyone, as we were studying about patents and due to the current climate, I feel it is only relevant to talk about the situation occurring between Russia, Ukraine and wider global involvement. I came across this article by Mark Mathison (Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP) which spoke about the western sanctions imposed on Russia due to […]

This paper is written as a piece for participation in the Intellectual Property (“IP”) Course, April 2022. It gives a summary of patent law in the UK. Following our first lecture on patents in Canada, I decided it might be a good idea to briefly discuss the requirement for granting patents in the UK and […]

Hi everyone! I’m Prince and I’m an exchange student over from Scotland, UK. I have attached my short piece on the role of copyright law in the Canadian music industry. I chose this particular topic as I am a musician myself and wanted to enlighten myself to the Canadian Industry. We didn’t cover too much […]

Video & slides below… Jon

Introduction In the time leading up to legalization of marijuana in Canada, a “green rush” swept the Toronto Stock Exchange. Money poured into companies starting up to service both the Canadian and U.S. markets. It has only been about 5 years post legalization and already there are clear signs of the impending psychedelic surge. Studies […]

By now, I am sure most of us have either heard of or played the daily brainteaser Wordle. The online 5-letter word game developed by Josh Wardle, a Brooklyn-based software engineer, is released daily. Players have six attempts to guess the word of the day. Simple enough. But, with any new internet craze, comes those […]

Hello everyone, I found this article describing a performance on the Ellen DeGeneres show that featured NFT animated dancers: https://decrypt.co/95735/nft-band-debuts-singer-kiesza-ellen-degeneres-show. The dance moves executed by the dancers (who are Chewbacca-like rainbow-coloured furry humanoids) are apparently stored on the blockchain.  What’s interesting in the context of this course is how the artist leading the performance suggests […]

Hi everyone, I’ve been loving the movie and soundtrack of “Encanto” lately, so I thought I’d do a dive into its trademark applications to the USPTO (United States Patent and Trademark Office). Here are a few interesting and fun facts: I found 10 separate “Disney Encanto” trademark applications. 2 are of the “stylized script”: *click […]

Being an exchange student from Denmark I figured it would be interesting to give everyone a glimpse into Danish trademark law by looking at a case. The case will provide some insight into how trademarks are delt with in Danish law. I also find the aftermath of this specific case particularly interesting, because it shows […]

Yesterday, Young Adult novelist Laura Silverman tweeted that one of her candles she was selling was being taken down for Trademark infringement. Silverman’s candle, which she was selling on Etsy, had a label that read: “Go Away, I’m Reading Fanfiction.” This was allegedly an infringement on the “Harry Potter” trademark, but Silverman noted that she […]

Video & Slides below… Jon

Here’s the article: Canadian entertainment brand allows NFT holders to own their characters (VIDEO) We previously discussed in class the unfortunate case where a crypto investment / entertainment group purchased a copy of Dune for an exorbitant price, and the fact that ownership of the book did not confer copyright. Now we have entertainment brands […]

Hi all, Here is my presentation for this class. Please let me know if you are having trouble accessing it. The presentation is on Github Copilot and the copyright implications of AI-generated code. Here is some background material regarding Github, Github Copilot, as well as the GPL licenses implicated by the use of Github Copilot […]

*Please note that I wrote this to post before class 2, so it only covers the course material from class 1 and week 2 readings: Hey everyone, the Kenrick & Co v Lawrence & Co case from our first class about a drawing of a hand reminded me of one of the most memorable copyright […]